Tat Kuang Si Waterfall

After the disappointment of yesterdays trip today we got back on track with a trip to Tat Kuang Si Waterfall. It was really beautiful there with lots of pools for swimming in. . . Well I swam in them. Liz sat on the side watching saying that it was too cold. And this is from someone who used to swim in the sea in Torquay! She definitely needs toughening up, I think she has gone a bit soft in her old age.






Here´s me doing my best Tarzan impression . . .



Tomorrow we head further South in Laos to Vang Vieng.

One foot in the Mekong

On Sunday we had a bit of a disappointing trip out to the Pak Ou Caves. The caves are about 25km up the Mekong river from Luang Prabang and the journey there took about 2 hours in a long tail boat. On the way to the caves we stopped at a village where they make lao lao, which is a whisky type spirit distilled from sticky rice. There wasn't a lot to see, in fact the most entertaining thing was a statue of what appeared to be a monkey eating a banana whilst wearing a cowboy hat!
Anyway back to those caves. . . There are two caves which are promoted as the Buddha caves and were stuffed with all different sizes and types of statues. Most of which where caked in dust, dirt and cobwebs.

I thought the trip up the Mekong would have been more interesting than going by road. But in reality spending two hours in a boat to go and look at a load of dusty Buddhas in the dark was a bit cack.

Then we had to make the journey back, which thankfully was a little quicker as it was downstream. However; there was a slight incident when we tried to get back on the boat which helped finish the day off. As Liz was climbing down the ladder onto the jetty she slipped through one of the rungs and fell face first onto the walkway. Ending up sprawled with one leg stuck in the ladder whilst the other dangled in the Mekong in a pose that would win the Luang Prabang twister competition 2008. Looks like she'll have some nice bruises just in time for when we hit the beaches in Thailand.

The evening helped ease the pain as we found a great bar/restaurant at the back of the town called Lao Lao Garden. It's a really beautiful terraced outdoor venue lit with fairy lights and open fires. Liz can't have been too injured though as she managed to eat all of her water buffalo burger washed down with a couple of Beer Lao and a pina colada!

A few more pictures from Luang Prabang

Sabai Dee Luang Prabang

It's been a fairly busy first month on the road but as soon as we landed in Luang Prabang we could feel the pace begin to slow down a few gears. In fact I think we may have slipped into neutral. A lot of people we've met who have been to Laos have said how relaxing and chilled out it is compared to many of it's Southeast Asian neighbors and you can actually feel it the moment you step off the plane.

When we were on the train coming back from Sapa in Vietnam a girl was telling us a joke about Laos that went something along the lines of - How do you tell the difference between a motorcyclist in Vietnam and Laos? In Laos they ride their motorbikes with their umbrellas up. Probably not the most side splitting joke we've ever heard but it's certainly true.

The other thing that immediately strikes you as different is the lack of hawking, hassling and high pressure selling that goes on. In most places in Southeast Asia as soon as it is spotted that you are a "falang" or Westerner you will be targeted! Usually to buy something but also to take a taxi, trip, excursion, tuk-tuk, boat, guided tour, visit my bar, restaurant, guest house, hotel, shop . . . The list is endless and mainly designed to extract your money from your pocket. On most days you just ignore it and get on with whatever it is that you are doing but sometimes it gets a little wearing.

On several occasions we've seen various Westerners snap under the constant harassing that can go on and have stand up arguments in the street with locals. There is none of that pressure or hassling here and it makes such a refreshing change. And they probably sell more because of it as people are not sacred that they will get jumped on the second they stop and look at something. There's even a road sign that should be adopted in Hanoi.

Temples, Waterfalls and Elephants

Well we have had a wonderful first three days in Laos in Luang Prebang. We have a great hotel for about 8 pounds a night, our room is set around a really pretty garden and we have all the mod cons of satellite tv, hot water and air con. It is lovely and hot in the day, with clear blue skies but as we are at about 700m it does get a bit chilly at night so we have been sleeping with all our clothes on again. I was going to donate my fleece to a good cause after leaving the mountains in Sapa, but that will have to wait as I still need it here!

Luang Prabang was the capital of Laos until the mid 16th century when it was moved to Vientiane on the Thai border. However the monarchy remained here and it was the royal capital right up until the 1975 revolution. It's quite a small town and only has a handful of streets, it has more of a village feel. Its really picturesque here with the town surrounded by jungle and hills, sat on the bank of the Mekong where it meets one of it's main tributaries, the Nam Khan. We spent our first two days just walking around town, chilling out, and checking out the restaurants, bars, Wats and night markets. There are lots of Wats (Buddist Temples) all around town. They are all very ornate and beautifully decorated in lots of gold and rich colours. We have included just a few of our pictures below from our visits to about 10 of the Wats and the Royal Palace Museum.



Today we had another great trip out. We hired a jumbo (a sort of motor bike front that pulls a trailer containing a couple of benches along) for the afternoon and set off for some waterfalls. The driver didn't actually take us to the waterfalls we wanted to go to but instead to Tat Sae. We were a bit annoyed at first but they were beautiful anyway. After a pretty rough ride in the jumbo we boarded a narrow boat to reach the falls. On disembarking we found they had elephants there too, quite a surprise when you aren't expecting them! The falls had crystal clear water and lots of turquoise pools deep enough to swim in. The mountain water was quite cold though. We both went in for a swim but I could only manage up to my waist but Si had a proper swim, not like him he is usually a bit of a wuss around cold water. So there we were bathing in the lovely jungle waterfalls with elephants walking past, not your normal Friday afternoon!


The boat we got back was very narrow and wobbly indeed, so we needed lots of concentration to not wobble and capsize it! On getting back to Luang Prebang we walked up to the temple on top of 100m high Phu Si which is in the centre of town. The views over town and the Mekong were lovely just as the sun was setting.

We have found a new beer to enjoy as well, we had Hanoi and Saigon beer in Vietnam, Chang Beer in Thailand and now we have found Beer Lao which goes down very nicely after a days sightseeing, especially as a big bottle only costs a pound and is enough for two. There is a really good cafe scene here as well. The French left behind a legacy of lovely fresh baguettes that you can enjoy everywhere and great coffee. We also found a top wine bar and as it gets cold at night they give you a little charcoal burner to put under your table so you don't get cold while enjoying a nice glass of red, all very civilised. We have decided to stay for a week as it is such a lovely place before heading onto Vang Vieng.

The wisdom of the in flight magazine

I'm not really sure if the translator for Laos Airlines in flight magazine is having a laugh or if these are real sayings about the capital Vientiane. The first one is just a little strange "Who can say that Vientiane was in misery, my dear girl? It will be grown up as big as its last elephant cucumber". But surely this second one can't be right. "Whatever, Vientiane was burnt down and abandoned for more than 100 years. Old saying; Vientiane was abandoned and remained as a small hill of the wild dog's excrements".

The flight on Laos Airlines was certainly a bit quirky and not just for their in flight magazine. It was a fairly small plane and they served one of the best in flight meals we've ever had. We're not normally nervous flyers but this one put us both a little on edge due to the intermittent failure of the in cabin lighting and intercom throughout the duration of the flight.

You always hope in these situations that the flight deck is not experiencing the same problems! When we landed we made our way to the taxi rank and were given a ticket for the airport limousine service. Here's a picture of our limo . . .

We couldn't find the on board TV or drinks cabinet though.