The long and winding road......
Trip Start
May 03, 2008
1
4
44
Trip End
May 02, 2009
Luang Prabang,
Luang Prabang,
Lao Peoples Dem Rep
Saturday, May 10, 2008
We were about 6/7 hours into the journey when we randomly pulled over to the side of the road. We all got out and watched the crew pour buckets and buckets of cold water over the overheated engine. You could hear the water sizzling and the steam was rising! This went on for about a half an hour before we could get on our way again
Mountain Views in Laos
. It's not surprising though because the buses aren't as fresh as one would like and it's hard going on the engine on thise windy, steep mountain roads. I was just rocking off to sleep again when the bus hit an almighty pothole and managed to dislodge the front bumper! We didn't bother getting out this time but there was some hammering again out front and we were on our way again. Did I mention this was the VIP bus...?Anyway, arrived at our destination at 6.15 - 11 hours after we set off. Got bombarded with hostel owners and picked one so we could get a place to lie down. Went to have a look at the town, which is a UNESCO heritage town, but it was dark so couldn't really tell how it looked. Got some traditional Lao food which I didn't like! To be fair I did order a salad and it came out as part of a soup and the chicken didn't look like chicken..... Simon gave me his food but I didn't really like that either. Made do though coz was starving and had a Beer Lao to take the edge off.
The next day was dedicated to sightseeing. We were accross from the oldest temple in Luang Prabang - the Vizoun Temple so we went there first. It looked old, that was about it. We moved on to the most interesting one, the Phu Si temple. It's in the centre of town up a very steep hill
Mountain Views in Laos
. It's one hell of a climb - about 400 steps I think - but there are great views to be had and there are golden Buddah's everywhere you turn. There is also some Buddah footprints to be seen. It sounds like you're in the middle of the forest with all the insects making noise but it's in the town!After that we had lunch because it was too hot to be walking around. We had it by the Mekong river which is very wide but looks dirty too. I'm obviously not a big river person! After an average lunch, we walked to Wat Xieng Thong. We had a look around and went into one of the temples to see yet another Buddah. I think we've had our fill of temples at this stage.
We went to a restuarant away from the main street that night and had our first taste of Lao Lao which is the national whiskey. It was red in colour because they put things like oak/bugs/snakes in it when it's made and comes in other colours too....anyway it was quite potent! We had cocktails and food...and Beer Lao!! Then we went next door to see the end of the footie match (think it was champions league...)
More Beer Lao consumed and suddenly it was closing time (curfew is midnight!!)
Mountain Views in Laos
. Luckily there is a loophole to this and off to the bowling alley we went! It's the only place in Luang Prabang that serves alcohol after curfew - or is even open for that matter!So drunken bowling we went. Simon was first up....his first ball ended up in the left gutter....he ended up in the right gutter!!!! It was so funny, made even funnier by the line of Tuk Tuk drivers lined up laughing at him too!! Lets just say bowling in sandals is not good. Barefoot is fine though. After a very low scoring game and a few beers we decided it was time to head back. Once we got there the gate was closed.....we got that opened but couldn't get the stair door open - everywhere really does close at curfew! We had to get the guy in reception to get up and let us in.
The Tuk Tuk driver on the way home had mentioned something about a trip to a waterfall so we decided to go on that the next day as I was keen to go on a tour. We met some Icelandic ladies who wanted to go too so off we went on a 40minute Tuk Tuk ride to Kuang Si Waterfall park.
The waterfalls were beautiful. There were about 5 different levels and you just went to each one until you reach the top....wherever that is
Mountain Views in Laos
.We got more of an adventure than we bargained for really!! We got about three quarters of the way up and the trail seemed to end. I saw some people coming accross the waterfall and decided that we should go and see what was on the other side! In hindsight it probably wasn't the greatest idea considering that one wrong step and there was a substantial fall to the left or at best a dip in a deep rock pool to the right. Also, it was the day after a night of drinking so balance may not have been perfect....we got accross easyily anyway and there were some rocks to be climbed which we did and that brought us to some random wooden steps. We decided we might as well go forward rather that back eventhough it was clear at this stage that this was not a main trail.... We followed the sketchy path which was very steep in places to what seemed like the top of the waterfall. The reach went dead and we couldn't see any way accross the lake area infront of us except for a tree...I did contrmplate trying to cross but was feeling unsteady. We were about to give in and started to head back the way we came when we saw the crossing by the edge of the presypus....doh!! Got through - was used to wet feet by now and started the steep descent. Worked out fine but Simon said he's not listening to any of my great ideas anymore!
Has a quiet nite after that as we had to make an early bus to Phonsavan the next day
Mountain Views in Laos
.Phonsavan is completely different to anywhere I've been yet. Now, I know I'm paler than the average bear but I got some serious stares while we were here! To be fair, they stared at everyone. There weren't a whole lot of tourists there but there seems to be a constant flow all the same. It was late in the evening when we got there and it was really cold!! I had to fish my hoodie out of the bag before we could go out. It's got a cooler climate there in general which suited me coz we were going on a trip to see the Plain of Jars. It was still hot but there was a nice cooling breeze to offset it.
The Plain of Jars was cool. They're these massive limestone jars lined out in the mountains. They aren't sure what they were for but thing it was for dead bodies to rot in before being buried properly - nice! We went to 3 jar sites altogether. We had to stick close to the paths though because there were areas that had not yet been cleared of unexploded bombs from the war. No off-trail wandering then!
Nothing much goes on in Phonsavan - they only got electricity about 4 years ago and street lights haven't made their way there yet. Luckily it's not that big and the shop lights allow you to make your way. We had some unimpressive food and off to bed for our 6.30 12hour VIP bus to Vinh which is in Vietnam.
