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We have just spent 2 nights in Luang Probang, Northern Laos ooo but first I must tell you about the journey there...we did a 6 hour drive in just over 3 on the windiest roads I have ever seen-our driver was completely oblivious to lane markings and speed limits-this was followed by a sketchy night in a hotel room resembling a refugee camp-no locking door, barred doors and add to that the crazy dreams we're all having... A side affect of the malaria tablets we are all taking. The next 2 days were better and after a long wait at the visa office where apparently I should have tipped to get quicker service we boarded a slow boat which looked to me like a wooden Viking ship! It was lovely cruising along the river,we did this for 7 hours each day for 2 days, the 2nd being Nut's birthday so we celebrated with a warm beer and out of tune rendition of happy birthday! At random points the boat would stop at rocks/beaches...once to drop off a monk and a couple of times to exchange food for other bits and pieces. Lack of health and safety allowed us to lay on the front point of the boat and gaze at amazing scenery but you never fully trusted the boat with it's wonky wooden planks and no life jackets!
So now I'm up to arriving in Luang Prabang...a city famous for it's waterfall and to be fair it doesn't have much else. We settled on double rooms after trying our beat to haggle prices and finding these to be the cheapest and headed to the night Market for delicious street food accompanied by a bit of paranoia about whether the dogs wanted to bite us. We managed to find both cake and candles and sat in the middle of the market to sing another round of happy birthday-we found every bar closed at 11 so we ended with card games and a reasonably early night!
The following day we tuk-tukked it ( again after haggling-we seem unable to settle for anything without at least trying) to the waterfall which was MAGNIFICENT!!! The water was turquoise and it was 60 metres high,we swam in the pools and witnessed Bryan (one of the canadians) purposefully belly flop off a rope swing-OUCH! There was also a bear rescue centre to add to our ever increasing animal photos! We then had an admin aft as everyone needed to plan the next parts of their trips. We'd heard that the sunset was best seen from the top of a hill in the middle of the town so with 20 minutes to go we made it up 180 of the 380 steps and took some fab photos. That evening we followed lonely planet to some of the recommended bars and restaurants and it was so so worth it. First utopia with it's cushions,toadstool tables and volleyball courts and then Hive with up to date English tunes and the strangest laolao whisky cocktails!
So this morning we left luang prabang for vangvieng.I'll let you know how we get on :)!
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Mum Just read all your blogs and it sounds like every day is exciting. Glad I didn't know about the life jackets before now!