The minibus ride between Vang Vieng and Luang Prubang is an absolute shocker. It is about 6 hours of twist and turns though the mountains the whole way. Thankfully though we made a few pit-stops and out driver was relatively sane which helped.
Luang Prubang is a pretty stunning place, where the Khan River feeds into the Mekong the old part of town is all French Provincial buildings with Buddhist temples dotted throughout. After spending a day wandering around the town I organized a mountain biking trip which turned out to be really good. We rode for about 40 kms and visited a small village and a waterfall (where I slipped over on some steps and very nearly put an early end to my travels). On the way we had to throw the bikes in a small boat to cross the Khan River. It was only a really small group, there was a young couple from the US who were taking a break from working in Hanoi and a Swedish guy who had just returned from working in Kosovo for the UN. It was a pretty full on day physically but I had a great time in the end.
The other night I went out to check out the local nightlife and ended up hanging out with an 18 year old guy from the US who was teaching English in town and after 3 months in Thailand and a couple of weeks in Laos could quite comfortably hold conversations with the locals in Thai (Most people here can speak and understand Thai as most of their TV and music comes from there) he reckons he just tries to learn a few words a day and uses word association but I think he must be some sort of genius or freak of nature. We played a few games of pool on the most rediculously warped pool table I have ever seen. I was a bit surprised when they called last drinks at 11pm. Apparently the few bars that are allowed to operate in town have to close at 11:30 in an attempt to preserve a family friendly clean cut image in the town. As is often the case though the locals have found a loophole and after the bars close the tuk tuk drivers ferry everyone to a tenpin bowling alley just out of town that stays open until 3pm. Off course the Tuk Tuk drivers do very well at closing time when they charge the drunken backpackers pretty much watever they like to drive them back into town.
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