Luang Prabang! An absolute pleasure. Steeped in history but has also managed to preserve itself with unimaginable pride and dignity. The curfew for tourists is 12pm, don't be late! The streets are lined with small cafes and restaurants who's tables dominate the sidewalks . Young and old sit on cobbled streets and smoke cigarettes and drink red wine. Baguettes and crepes are on offer all over the town and are of a proper quality. This is a place one could get used to, trust me.
Our minivan dropped us in the Main Street and we had a short walk down towards the Mekong with our packs on. We checked out a couple of rooms but choosing a room with Kate aka Rooms division manager can be a bit tricky especially when they only cost a few bucks a night. We finally settled into a small guest house that had some wifi and relatively clean rooms. In this part of the world CLEAN is everything. We then wandered down to the river and sat on the banks of the Mekong and enjoyed some pork "laap" which is a very traditional dish of hand chopped pork mixed with fresh mint, coriander, dill, birds eye chillies,fish sauce and lime juice. Amazing. It's dry season here at the moment so the Mekong isn't really flexing its muscles but its still an impressive sight. We both just sat in silence and watched the long tail boats zooming up and down.
After a good night sleep we went back down to the river and enjoyed some local coffee and croissants. There are still many bakeries in Luang Prabang serving top notch pastries and breads. In Thailand we would have felt guilty for having French toast for breakfast, but in Luang Prabang it just feels right. After breakfast we hopped in a minivan and sped off, Laos style, to the nearby waterfalls. Upon arrival we were greeted by the most amazing turquoise coloured water and scenery which is straight off national geographic!Kates exact words were "we're in fairy land". The waterfalls cascade down multiple tiers and gather in these amazing pools that you can swim in. It just looks so inviting and irresistible until you get in........Holy S@&T! A bit cold. My manhood literally disappeared and I must admit I let out a little squeal.Kate was standing on the bank having a field day taking pictures of me pulling ridiculous faces.
On returning to town we stopped on the side of the road and had some fresh baguettes with avocado and tomatoes. We then casually strolled around and just enjoyed the chilled atmosphere of this amazing place. In the evening we visited the night market which is literally an entire street which gets blocked off every night and the locals lay down their mats with all the goods. Scarves, dresses, shirts and jewellery all beautifully laid out for us to look at and buy. The bartering was intense and I bought two t shirts for 6 bucks. They had an amazing array of old opium smoking pipes which were fascinating and also a huge selection of post war machetes and swords which had been slightly restored. Razor sharp and very tempting to those that like buying such things. After the market we headed down to the Mekong again for some delicious dinner. A banana and Nutella pancake on the way home and it was job done for the day.
Our last day in Luang Prabang started with some coffees and French toast on the river once more! We then took a long walk across town to the Nam Khan river. The main town is wedged between these two mighty rivers. The interesting thing is that these two rivers confluence at the head of the town but flow in opposite directions before they meet. Really odd but I'm sure there's a simple geographic explanation for it. We then found a very sketchy looking bamboo footbridge which crossed over the Nam Khan. We gingerly made our way across and enjoyed some cold beers at a very lekker pub. After this stop it was off to Utopia! The ultimate chill out and forget the world exists kind of spot. These guys have built a massive platform out of bamboo and laid out cushions and blankets for people to simply laze about on. It looks onto the Nam Khan and has to be one of the most chilled out peaceful places on the planet. No music or crazy noise. Just a great view, cold beer and people chilling out everywhere. Simply perfect. Once we managed to drag ourselves off the bamboo we ventured into town again which was by now dark and the dinner woks were fired up everywhere. We grabbed a table at a street corner and had a delicious meal of noodles with pork and some stir fried morning glory with garlic.Superb.
The next morning we were up early and off to the bus station. Vang Vieng was sold as a peaceful 6 hour bus ride. We also shelled out a little extra for the VIP bus which had a toilet and was generally a little bit more civilised. Well what a surprise. Here's a tip for making money in Laos! Charge people extra for using the special bus with a toilet because most westerners like to wee a lot. Then lock the toilet on the bus and refuse to open it. Then when everybody on the bus is bursting at the seems pull over and have your mates charge them to use their toilets. Genius! Simple supply and demand! On the positive side, the bus ride was stunning. Scenery which takes your breath away around every bend. Huge limestone cliffs are covered with dense jungle and every now and again the pale stone shines through. A road which does require a strong stomach as there wasn't any straight bits. Half way through we stopped and were fed a delicious bowl of chicken soup with spring onions, ginger and chilli. A bit of a leg stretch, paying for more toilets and off we set again. 7.5 hours later and we drove into Vang Vieng. All the tourists got off and hopped onto tuk tuks but Kate and I were keen for a walk so we loaded up and headed into town. Well this is were it got interesting. It was like walking into Plett Rage (schoolies for our aussie friends) all over again. 1000000 young tourists everywhere drinking and carrying on like they only had one more day to live. Australians, Americans, English and a lot of Chinese. It was such a smack in the face after Luang Prabang that we both turned to each other and wanted to head to the bus station again but sanity prevailed and we figured we needed to at least give it a try. That night we teamed up with a German couple who we met in Thailand. We had dinner with them and shared travel stories. He is a doctor and she is a geographer. Extremely interesting people and just awesome to hang out with. They were also a little shocked by Vang Vieng but decided to, like us, hang in there for a day. The sun is going down now and we're sitting on some cushions overlooking the river. The limestone cliffs towering over us and the beer tasting so sweet. Lets see what this crazy place holds for us tomorrow. Same same but different...........