damn you Dien Bien Phu!!

Damn you Dien Bien Phu is what cath and I have been thinking to ourselves today as we prepare for another night in D.B.P whilst try to get to Hanoi.....

approaching tay Trang border crossing

I will start from the beginning.

Ileft you last time upon our arrival in Luang Prabang. Beautiful provincial capitol. We spent 4 nights in L.P. staying in a very nice little guest house with soffests pillows we have encouted on our travels so far. Whilst on the subject, perhapse other people who have travelled asia might be able to explain, what is with the dam beds!!?? All rock hard with pillows that a bowling ball would fail to indent...  Anyway if you know the answer, leave a msg.

so L.P.....very nice, architecture is distinctly french, baguettes on every corner and beautiful night markets full of some very nice crafts. We arrived in L.P. with a friend we made on the Gibbon experience, Tom. Tom turned out to be a great travelling buddy and since Pak Beng (one night stop on the boat trip down) we have kept up our tradition of a 'beer on the balcony' a fitting opportunity to review the days events, plan the next days and dribble shit for a couple of hours before going to bed. Whilst in L.P we hired a tuk tuk and got out to the Kungsi waterfall which was stunning. There was an opportunity to climb to the top (maybe 150m) and take a swim in one of the many pools. there was even a rope swing out into one of the deeper pools. the swim was great particularly since the wheather is generally humid with few chances at real refreshment. We also caught up with Natalie, a canadian girl we met in Chang Mai, and we all managed dinner together on te last night. Speaking of meals...cath and I managed to stumble across this steam boat / bbq joint on the river which turned out to be a bit of alright.. For about $2 you got a basket full of greens, 2 eggs, some pig fat and a selection of 2 meats. The 'steam boat bbq) was a hot plate on coals with a moat of water which came to the boil, in which you would cook your greens. On the raised bbq bit you would melt your strips of lard and fry your meat - awesome! We have been so good up tro dat at not buying stuff but we finally cracked at the night markets at LP. Picked up a beautiful hand made bed spread complete with pillow cases which we hope to send home from Hanoi.

cath and si at kungsi

From LP we did a bit of research and from the several sources we used it turned out that about 60% said the journey we were planning up the Nam Ou river and onto the boarder crossing with Vietnam was not possible (due to the condition of the road) with the remainder saying it would be difficult and 'why dont you just go the easy way?'. Pffft, what did they know? We set off oup the Nam Ou river to Muang Noi the next morning which took us about 8hr. The village was sureal, with fantastic views, a disproportionate amount of kids and animals and a mud main drag.. The next morning we spent the first couple of hous trying to wrangle a boat to Muang Kuah a further 5hrs up river. The scenery was fantastic and the journey enjouyable and relaxing. By the time we got there we didnt know what all the fuss had been about and expected to reach Dien Bien Phu the next day about lunch time and from there a short flight to Hanoi. We arrived at the river in the morning at 6.30 ready to get across and jump on the local bus. An hour and a half later we were still waiting for the rtiver to go down some of the 15ft it had risen overnight (only the balcony of the place closest to the river now dry). Eventually we cross and after some stuffing around getting all the hill tribe ladies and their crafts loaded (right pains in the asses these hill tribe ladies once you get over their fancy hats and colourful clothes) we were under way. ... This was'nt so hard... within 30mins we got to our fist river that the bus had to drive across. Stop, remove the air filter, fit a snorkel and we cross, just. The rest of the 9hr (revised from 3hr) we were in and out of the bus, getting ourt of muddy bogs, pushing up hill, manouvering around other unluckier vehicles, clearing fallen trees and digging our way through recent land slides..... awsome! Every time we were in and out of the vehicle Cath took the opportunity to try to reclaim some of the leg room that would be inevitably taken back by the pushy hill tribe ladie curled up next to her on the luggage stored at the back of the bus. All in all the scenery was spectacular and the experience rare (after all, we made it, one bus headed the other way was stranded mid river...). We crossed the boarder that evening and arrived Dien Bien Phu about 9pm.

cath in °Kungsi° shower

Nobody speaks english in D.B.P....its a big enough joint but so far we have also struggled to find food! Found a restaurant when we arrived but no idea about what was on the menu and no way of communicating. Decided to point at random to a dish on the menu and ended up with a large dish of chilli tofu! Tried to get a flight for Hanoi this morning but no seats. Spent much of the day at the airport on standby but still here at the moment. Looks like a 16hr bus ride to Hanoi on another 'local bus'which leaves at 4.30am tomorrow...we think. D.b.P has a lot of history after all, its where the French were decisively beated by the Vietnamese and kicked out of the north....if only it was so easy for us to leave! Not all bad, managed to draw a picture of noodles for dinner this evening and got something pretty close. Its off to bed for us now so we can make sure we get on the bus tomorrow.

cath, si, tom at Kungsi

I will come back to this post once we are in Hanoi and post some Pics...all a bit hard right now.

PS Happy birthday to our niece Amelia!! Make a wish for us when you blow out the candles...."please let Aunty Cath and Uncle si get to Hanoi as painlessly as possible" :)

early morning alms giving in L.P.

en route to Hanoi

Kahn river LP

Kungsi rope swing...

Leaving Muand Ngoi

local kids enjoying rivernear border crossing

LP monks in action

LP Wat

monk mates

Muang Ngoi

Nam Ou 1

Nam Ou 2

Nam Ou 3

Novice Monk painting

Pack Beng to Luang Prabang

River crossing Muang Kua ... check out the balcony

si and Tom going down the mekong

slight delay...

small waterfall at Kungsi

sunset on Tay Trang

tom with his feet up