Luang Praban

Si Pan Don is in the very south of Laos, far from other interesting spots. To leave there we first took a minibus to a little town called Pakse. After much hesitation we had booked a flight from Pakse to Vientiane with Lao Air. The hesitation comes from the fact that they have a very poor safety record and that embassies and NGOs used to recommend that their employees do not fly with them. But we did it anyway, so here we are on a propeller plane, shaking towards Vientiane. The flight actually went quite alright, so in Vientiane we decided that instead of being on a bus for 11hours to Luang Prabang, we would just jump on another plane. That flight was ok again and it was actually really cool to fly over the mountains covered in dense jungle and follow the Mekong.

Caroline on top of falls

Luang Prabang is a cute little town that's also a UNESCO World Heritage site. It is nestled in a tight meander of the river and has a lot of nice Lao houses and temples. We got a nice hotel WITH hot water!!

Caroline takes the plunge

The next day we went exploring the different temples and climbed the hill in the center of town to admire the view. It is a nice place. At night the main street closes and becomes a night market with all the silk and crafts from the Hmongs, a hilltribe from the area. In the evening we met up with Rich and Hailey who had just arrived there too. They were with other friends we knew from Sihanoukville so it was fun to see everybody again. We decided to go and see the waterfall the next day.

Next morning Seth started feeling sick. He was kind of ok in the morning so he came with us to the waterfall. We all boarded a sangthwae, a pick up truck with seats along the sides and a roof, and set off through the mountains. The waterfall was really beautiful. It is made of several levels with little basins inbetween created by calcite deposits(it's all marble). The water is cool and feels good. we swam around and jumped into the water from a tree. Seth was trying to survive on the shore as his fever was getting higher and higher. On the way out we stopped at the tiger rehabilitation center and I got to pet a beautiful tiger. It was kind of scarry but the caretaker was petting her like a cat so I decided to dare it too. The hair is much coarser than on a cat, more like a dog's.

Curious monkey, Caroline in next life

By the time we left, Seth's fever was pretty bad. I felt really bad about giving him my illness. It's hard when you live so close together not to infect the other person, even though we were trying to be careful.

Next day we mostly rested and I tried to take care of Seth. His fever was bad. At least we knew he had to start antibiotics right away. In the meantime the rest of the group decided to go hilltribe trecking further up north. I didn't want to go but Seth encouraged me to join them, saying that he was ok by himself and that he preferred being by himself and watching movies. I was not convinced but with his encouragements, I decided to go anyway. He stayed in Luang Prabang and had a few hard days with high fever and lots of coughing. He ended up also seeing a doctor who also prescribed him some more medicine. It sounds like I could have needed something different too. Eh...

everyone in the pool

Falls

Luang Prabang from above, Phu Si hill at sunset

Possy

Tiger by the falls

Wat Xieng Thong 1

Wat Xieng Thong 2