Laos

Luang Prabang - Wednesday 4th November till Saturday 7th November

We flew from Hanoi at 6.30pm, upon boarding the plan we had to laugh!!! We knew Laos airlines were pretty new to the whole flying scene, but the plane we were about to board looked like it was taken out of a museum. It was a teeny tiny plane with….Propellers. The plane may have looked dodgy but the interior was something else…if you haven’t seen the picture….the seats were covered with a flower pattern and the most bright neon colors you could imagine!!! I loved it. The cabin crew consisted of one young lady (more like a girl) but we couldn’t fault her. The service was excellent and we even got a free drink and a snack box, which consisted of the best plane food we have ever had.

We landed in Laos at 7.30pm and were pretty impressed with what we saw. The airport was tiny but very clean and organized, it took about half an hour in total to get our visa sorted, go through passport control and collect out bags, which were all in the same room!! Leaving the airport we didn’t know what to expect as we were so used to the hassle we got in Vietnam….but it was the most organized place we had been too!! Outside was a taxi booth where you payed a set fee for a Tuk Tuk to take you to your destination…how easy is that!!!

We checked into our guesthouse which was run by a French Guy and his Laos wife, our room was basic but clean. In Vietnam we had got used to air con and cable TV…our dream had been shattered when we had none of this hehe!!! The fun began of figuring out how to put up the mossie net with no screws anywhere in the walls…100% improvisation was put into it!!

With the mossie net assembled we headed out to explore the little town, 100 meters down the road was the night market. We had a little wonder round looking at the stalls and was so pleased how little hassle you got from the locals…it was bliss!! We headed back to the guesthouse for our first nights kip under the net and no air con!!!!

Our first day in Luang Prabang started with breakfast at JoMa café…a lovely modern coffee house (would put starbucks to shame) we enjoyed a coffee each, Willoughby enjoyed a chocolate croissant while I tucked into a multigrain bagel with homemade jam uuuummmm it was so yummy!!!! After breakfast we went next door to the tour company, here we booked our elephant day tour, the bus to Vang Vien and our flight to Cambodia…I think they saw us coming hehe!!! Our sales assistant was hilarious, everything we said she just giggled at….maybe it was us but she just laughed continuously!!! We were there pretty much a whole hour, we then asked her where we could go to hire some cycle bikes….guess what they hired cycle bikes!!!! Bonus…a little discount later we cycled off to explore the town and surrounding areas!!!!

It was beautiful , we cycled around the town. A very pretty place, you would not think you were in one of the 5 poorest countries in the world. The streets were so clean and the roads all well made, it put Vietnam to shame but it also put our towns and villages to shame with it cleanliness etc. To be honest you would have thought you were in a remote place in Italy or France!! We fell in love with it. We cycled along the riverside, along all the little quaint streets, stopping of for the occasional beer Lao and snack. Before we knew it we had cycled around for 5 hours, we gave the bikes back and heading back to the guesthouse to freshen up!!! We then took some time strolling around the night market, getting some bargains! We brought Willoughby a Beer Lao T-shirt, Marcie a cute little local Lao outfit, I got some bracelets and 2 small hand painted prints for a grand total of 85,000 kip so about 5 quid!!! Once we were all bargained out we sat down and enjoyed a lovely dinner of local cuisine!

The second day was an early start…today was elephant day!!!!! We were so excited woop woop. We got picked up from the tour company at 8am, it took about 30 mins to reach the elephant ranch!! There they were 2 beautiful Nelly the elephants….we were with 2 other couples and the tour guide. One couple were in there 60’s and were South African but lived in Singapore, they had pretty much travelled most of Asia. The other were around the same age as us, but they were German. It was time for the elephant ride through the jungle, as there were 6 of us and we had payed for the whole day’s tour. We got to ride the elephants the traditional way, on the back of their neck!!! The others sat on a seat on the elephants back. We climbed the steps to the platform, where we then placed ourselves on the elephants. Wow it was high, at first it didn’t feel very safe but after a while you soon learnt how to relax. It was all about balance, the elephants were guided by a local guy who worked with them every day. We were taken through the jungle for just over an hour, the experience was breathtaking, and it is hard to describe what it was like. One thing we will not forget for a long long time!!!

Once we had gone back to camp it was time to explore the caves. We took the mini bus down to the coast, about 15 mins drive. Here we had to get on a very dodgy narrow fishing boat to take us across the river to the caves. The caves were pretty rubbish, they didn’t compare to the one we saw in Halong Bay. Once we had finished at the caves we headed back to the elephant ranch for lunch. We were then asked if we were ready for the elephant bathing, we looked at each other, a little confused!! We weren’t sure what we had actually payed for when booking the tour but to our surprise we had payed to bath the elephants in the river. The seats were taken off the elephants and we had to climb on them, this was a laugh. The elephants are 9-10ft tall….for little Kimmy this was tough. A little help from one of the local guys was appreciated, even if he did have to grab my arse!!! Even Willoughby struggled to get on his elephant, once seated properly we headed down to the river. The 2 local guys stayed with us to help guide the elephants in the right direction, they did teach us but we weren’t exactly that confidant!!!

We enjoyed an hour bathing the elephants, the one I had got on was the cheeky one of the 2!!! Lucky for Willoughby, he didn’t get to wet. Unlucky for me I did, no one told me how much my elephant enjoyed the water!!! As the pictures show, I got pretty wet….she loved ducking down under the water!!! She never gave me any warning though, she just dived under!!! We both were amazed at the experience we were getting, the other couples on the tour just had to sit back and wait for us!!! Bathing them was the most amazing and memorable experience since being on this trip, again…words cannot explain how good it was!!!

After the elephants it was time to visit the waterfalls. It took about 20 mins to drive there. We then had to get on another dodgy narrow fishing boat before arriving at the waterfalls. They were stunning to see, the most fresh and clear blue water you have seen, it was bloody cold though, hence why you haven’t seen any pictures of us in the water!!! That didn’t stop the tour guide enjoying a dip…we think it was probably his chance of a good bath hehe. We spent about an hour here before heading back to town.

We spent a few hours chilling our before finding somewhere for dinner. We took a stroll along the riverside, where we found a really nice restaurant!! We both enjoyed a really good meal with a few beers. It was all good apart from when I was attacked by a caterpillar….suddenly from nowhere some green prickly thing landed on me!!! AARRRHHHH it hurt.

Our last day in Luang Prabang was short and sweet, we got picked up at 10am to make our way to Vang Vien for Tubing………