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Tuesday 16th October - Luang Prabang
The slow boat arrived at Luang Prabang at around 5pm, and by already deciding on a guesthouse before we disembarked, we managed to sidestep the waiting tuk tuk hordes (I'm sure they're getting bigger), and walked for about five minutes to the View Khom Khong Guest House, overlooking the river.
Luang Prabang is a small city with around 26,000 residents, and the whole place is a UNESCO heritage site. This means that the mix of traditional Lao and French colonial architecture has been preserved, and also that lorries and buses can't come into the main part of the city. The whole place was so quiet and relaxed that we were chilled out as soon as we arrived.
After the two day boat journey, we didn't do much apart from wander around a bit and soak up the atmosphere. Everyone was friendly and seemed happy to have us there. The guesthouse was run by a family, who used the lobby a part of the house, meaning that most days there were children playing or watching cartoons, and they always greeted us when we passed through, although this did get a bit embarrassing when we had to wake them up most evenings to let us in, as everyone (including the baby), seemed to sleep in there too, and 9.30pm was the popular bedtime in Luang Prabang.
When we had finished relaxing, we did a walking tour from the Lonely Planet book with Caroline and Fleming. I assumed the role of tour guide, and apart from one incident of walking up and down the same road three times, it pretty much went well. Again, maybe not a future career choice.
We visited most of the main wats (temples) on the tour, and even included a traditional Laos lunch. This consisted mostly of sticky rice, but we were also treated to buffalo skin, dried river vegetables and a roasted aubergine dip, amongst other things (which we were unable to identify but ate anyway).
We finished the day by watching the sunset over the mountains from That Chomsi, a stupa on the top of the highest point in town. My tour guiding was complete for now, and I was rewarded with a large tip of 50% of my fee... unfortunately, 50% of nothing is nothing, so I didn't do that well out of it.
All over Asia, the monks walk along the streets at sunrise to collect alms (food and gifts), from the locals. The next morning I got up to go and see this for myself. Whilst Jemma had assured me that she would join me the night before, when the alarm went off at 5am she seemed less enthusiastic and stayed in bed.
Initially I was a bit disappointed, and although the sight of hundreds of monks, all silent and barefoot in orange robes is quite amazing, it seemed to be set up for tourists. Large parties arrived on buses and were all set up on mats at the side of the road. However, when I walked a little further from the main road I found local people giving the alms it became a bit more real and a lot less like a photo opportunity. One young monk towards the end of the procession dropped back from the crowd and at first I wasn't sure why... then I noticed a special silver set placed outside a house just off the route where the monks were heading. After picking up his 'special' pot and looking very pleased with himself, he flashed me a cheeky grin and caught up with the rest. I decided it was probably a present from his mum, and most likely had something more exciting to eat in it than sticky rice.
That afternoon, the four of us took a boat over to the far side of the Mekong River. After some hard bartering (the captain wanted 200,000 kip each, and we eventually got across for 45,000 all in), we got to the other side of Luang Prabang and immediately felt like we had stepped back in time by 100 years.
All very basic wooden houses on stilts and animals under the houses. It was still technically Luang Prabang, but like another place altogether. Judging by the stares we got, I don't think that many tourists make it over to this bit. After a picnic on a hill looking over the city, watching the dragon boat teams practice for the boat race festival at the end of the month, we headed back across the river. The plank to get back on the boat was a bit unstable and there was an incident with Jemma slipping and ending up sitting in the mud. Obviously, for me this was not funny in any way and I did not laugh, even a little bit. Well, maybe a little smile.
Our last day in Luang Prabang was spent at the nearby Tat Kuang Si waterfalls. Again, after some hard bargaining, we agreed a price of $15 for a tuk tuk to take the four of us the one hour drive to the falls, wait for three hours, and then drive us back - seemed like a good deal to me.
The falls were spectacular, especially the big main fall. We walked up a steep path at the side of the falls and across some other paths that were practically part of the falls to a spot about halfway up, with a view one way to the waterfalls and the other to the mountains.
On the way back down, we stopped at a pool for a swim in the (cold) water. Very bracing and pretty much cleared up my cold the instant I hit the water. Jemma only made it in as far as her knees, so didn't get the full experience of the 'refreshing' nature of the water, but she also avoided the task of drying off using the hand towel that I had packed by accident.
After a good few relaxing days it was time to move again, and we booked a minibus to take us to Phonsavanh along Route 13: the only road in Loas to get a special mention in the 'travel sickness' section of the guide.
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