Laos: Luang Phabang
Trip Start
Jan 18, 2007
1
31
39
Trip End
Ongoing
Luang Phabang,
Lao Peoples Dem Rep
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Luang Phabang is one of the nicest and most relaxing places in Laos. It's a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site with old french colonial architecture covering the town. It was at one point the capital. The town has a small feel with about 30,000 or so living there but is very easy to navigate. There are plenty of things here to keep ya busy, hiking, biking, trekking etc none of which we did. Instead we decided to go with the flow of the town and mainly relax.
Having said that we did move about a bit.
04. Monks Procession
We managed to go see waterfalls, black bears, a tiger (kinda), take a boat trip up the Mekong to visit the cave of thousand Buddhas, as well as a local village where you could buy a nice bottle of Lao Lao (rice wine) complete with a cobra snake inside, there was also the choice of scorpions, huge millipedes and geckos. Apparently its a required taste but is good for the circulation according to one of the local men. We also did a 2 day stay at an elephant camp where we got to look after a few elephants. At nights then we had the local markets. There was the Hmong market where you could buy a range of goods from bed covers to knives to the infamous reptile filled bottles of Lao Lao, (one bottle of which has been winged home to the folks complete with cobra, just hope its still there when I get back).On our first morning I got up nice and early (5.50am to be exact) to view the giving of the alms to the monks. This is where all the monks from the local Wats walk in procession through the streets with a canister to receive food from the local people. The monks in these parts do not cook for themselves and so rely on the local people to get their food. Most of what they receive is rice, as they pass by they open the lid on their can and a fist full of sticky rice is deposited.
13. Young Monk studying
I bought myself some bananas and passed them out as they passed by. The whole thing is don't in total silence with just the odd "Thank you" from some of the monks. It really was a lovely experience to see. Later in the day we went to visit some of the Wats where the monks live. The one thing about these guys is that they are eager to talk to ya. If for nothing else but to practice their English, they are always pleasant and always have a smile. They are some basic rule when meeting a monk, women are not allowed to touch any part of either the monk or his clothing and you should never be standing over them. If they are sitting you should too.
09. Just taking the beetles for a walk Ma!!!
We booked ourselves a trip to go live with the elephants. Well to be fair we lived in some top class room that was part of the sanctuary. They had 5 or so adult elephants and 1 baby (3 years old). All the elephants were saved from the logging industry where the elephants were treated very badly, one had lost an eye when a chain snapped and hit her. Others were giving drugs so that the elephants could keep working longer hours and one have abrasions and scars on her underside where they think she may have been stabbed with a knife in order to keep her in line. Here they are treated really well, with their day starting about 6am and finishing about 2pm.
76. Feeding the baby
We got out to the elephants ronf 10am or so. They were already fully strapped with the basket on their backs. Mine was to be Mae Cam, an elephant in her 30's. Her Mahout (elephant handler/rider) brought her to the stand where I was supposed to hop into the chair on her back, instead he decided I should go on the neck and him in the back, where he spent most of the hour long trek sleeping and singing when awake. It was bloody scary sitting up there, and hard to keep balance constantly having to readjust myself so I wouldn't fall off. My job was to be the Mahout but I had very little to do with what direction she went.
After the trek we bought some bananas to feed to the girls and went for lunch. We then came back and hoped on the elephants again to take them up into the jungle where they would stay the night. The next morning was an early start to go collect them again. Dee and Mini went off ahead on their elephants while I waited for my one to show up. This time we got on the old fashioned way. She lifted one of her legs which I stood on then had to grab onto her ear and hoist myself up. It wasn't very graceful but I got there. Again I sat on the neck with my Mahout behind me and another elephant behind us. If I though it was bad enough trying to balance when they walked it was much more difficult when they ran. My guy decided he wanted to have a race with the guy behind. Under my laughing I was bricking it but we made it down to the river,
70. More treats
where the elephants walked in up to the top of their backs and we proceeded to wash them with a big brush. It was an amazing and fun experience and one which the girls really look forward to.We finished by bringing them back to the huts where they would be strapped up again and ready for the next lot of visitors. Once done we went and had our breakfast after which we did a 4 hour kayak back to Luang Phabang.
This was also the place where Dee and Eugene were to leave us and head for India so we had ourselves a few the night before they left and headed to the local disco. Well it wasn't upto much but at least Dee was a hit with the local lads.
90. Dees and Eugenes going away do
The next morning we said our goodbyes and shed a tear or two as the guys drove off. After that Mini headed to Phonsavan/Plain of Jars while I hung around for another day and rented meself a bike to go for a look around.
Its one of the nicest spots in Laos and was glad I had went there, but couldn't stay there forever so the next day I headed to Phonsavan too
