Back to Civilization
Trip Start
Feb 05, 2008
1
24
70
Trip End
Ongoing
Luang Prabang,
Lao Peoples Dem Rep
Friday, March 21, 2008
All Aboard the Boat to Luang Prabang
. He paddled us in. By now we're about two hours behind and everybody is really hungry. He fills the tank and starts it up and off we go. Well you know what often happens when you run out of gas. It stalls and Mr Driver goes on to flood the engine. It will not start, no way. So he paddles us in the rest of the way. We got in three hours late at around 8:30, many of us very low on cash after not having been near an ATM for days and all of us hungry as hell, and laughing. Man it was good to get back to civilization. Remember when I said it wouldn't surprise me if I'd run into someone I met in South America? Well, there I was wandering around the night market, fully satiated after having downed a half a dozen Laos style fried vegetarian spring rolls and a big beerlaos, and who walks by? Henrik, one of the guys I spent three days partying with in Punte del Este, Uruguay. Freakin' unbelievable! Neither of us had any idea the other was planning to be over here at this time.
Pretty much everyone from the boat ended up at the Laos Laos Bar. Now there are about a dozen of us hanging together after having bonded on the boat ride. Here there is a midnight curfew and everything shuts. I guess there is a bowling alley that goes until five a.m
Our Co-pilot
. or some such thing but we are all too bagged and hit After a day of chilling, 14 of us met near the morning market, rented a couple of tuk-tuks and headed up to the Tat Kuang Si waterfalls where we could go swimming. We'd all heard a lot about this spot, with great uncrowded pools and rope swings. Despite much searching we couldn't find a pool that resembled anything along the lines of what had been described to us (as 'brilliant') and had to settle on an okay spot further up the falls. Later, back in town, we learned that we had to go down, not up to get to this spot which was indeed amazing. That night we found ourselves in a wine bar drinking our first glasses of decent wine any of us had had in weeks. A Shiraz-Cab Sav was my choice. It was a bit of a splurge four bucks a glass. From no toilets and intermittent to no power to a glass of fine wine in a Unesco World Heritage Site. Vanessa and I would later laugh about how silly the villagers must think we are needing to sit on something like that in order to take care of nature's business.
Speaking of which, I was sitting in a cafe enjoying my first cappuccino in many days and reading yesterday's edition of the English language daily piece of shit Vientiane Times when I came across an article that says 14 villages in the Luang Namtha province in the vicinity of Muang Sing have been listed as Code Red for avian flu, another 20 or so are Code Yellow
Me on the Boat
. None of the villages are listed. I wonder about my scratchy throat and itchy eyes. Kidding! The only thing left was to do a bit of the usual site-seeing thing. I joined Vanessa from Holland for a self-guided tour of the town. Luang Prabang is set amidst gorgeous limestone mountains and like most Unesco towns it is a beautiful and charming place. But after a bit of time you are left with an odd feeling that it seems like it's staged. The guesthouses are generally overpriced. So is the food but to a lesser extent. The people are generally pretty friendly but come across as a bit disingenuous, unlike their counterparts in the north who are a bit on the hard side but affable. Apart from its obvious french colonial feel, replete with narrow cobblestone alleys and white stuccoed buildings with shuttered windows, there isn't really much to it. The temples are unremarkable, particularly when you are 'templed out'. It doesn't really take advantage of it's place on the side of the Mekhong. So far I'm glad I came down from the north. Off to Vang Vieng tomorrow.
