Laos....

We arrived safely in Luang Prabang via an AirLaos flight from Chiangmai...there was an option of a 20-24 hour bus trip, but there was nothing appealing about that!!!
The flight was good, I'm really enjoyed the sit down, take off, eat/drink, land, get off nature of a one hour flight!! The food was interesting though... Fruit (brown apple and a tuna bun- though not a normal tuna bun, the tuna had been baked in and the bread was sweet. Have I mentioned that before?!?! All the bread in Thailand is sweet... Actually everything seems to be pretty sweet. They love their sugar and deep fryer!!)
There was no issue with visa's entering Laos, as long as you hand over your money they are pretty happy to grant you one.
There was no X-ray machine, no declaration forms... We just picked up our bags and left. The hardest and longest bit of the whole trip was waiting in the airport to board.

The Lao currency is kip, NZD 1 = approx 7000kip. I withdrew 1,000,000kip from the ATM #feelingrich!! It's really hard to get my head around how much it's worth and what it all is- pretty much all looks the same and most of its in Lao...which is fair enough, the whole world doesn't need to cater to my inability to speak any language but my own.

Laos is beautiful, lot of mountains and greenery, but also very third world. Reminds me a lot of the Solomons. Huts, children playing in the streets, animals roaming around and women selling fruit off tarpaulin on the side of the streets, swatting away the flies that hang around. The pace of life here definitely feels a bit more like 'island time' and the smaller population has meant I feel like I have a bit more of my own space back. Yay!!

Our accommodation in Luang Prabang is really nice, a air-con room at Oasis Villa- situated off the Main Street down a long drive way surrounded by beautiful lush green trees and a Lilly pond with a wee balcony where we are served breakfast each morning. Beautiful! But, not surprisingly, the mozzies are insane!! We've been sleeping with insect repellent on and filled all the gaps we can find with toilet paper or tissue- it's seems to have done the trick. No bites as of yet. We've also started out 8 week course of anti malarials...ewwwww.

Our first night here we ventured out to the famous night market. They completely shut down an entire street for vendors to set up stalls selling everything from jewellery to paintings to tea to baby bloomers to 'I love laos' singlets. It was all actually surprisingly beautiful and artistic unlike the Thai markets which were good for food but other than that were pretty much just full of crap.
I made a few purchases here:
1) a bag of ginger tea- I'm not so much into the tea, but the painting on the bag was gorgeous.
2) a fan- this place is soooooo hot!!!
3) a little metal carving of a missile. Apparently it was made out of recovered metal from the bombs and planes that were left in Laos during the 'secret war.' I am reading a book all about it. Very interesting!!
4) a lantern with more of the amazing paintings on the side.
Now I have to lug it all round!!!

While we were traipsing around the market we noticed a set of stairs off to the left, leading up the hill to a temple. For a better view of the market, and to take a few photos we headed up them and were treated to the most amazing sunset- fading away behind the hills, with coconut trees, the market and a temple in the foreground. Stunning!!! I can see why Luang Prabang gets referred to as the most romantic place in Laos.

Dinner- as I have said before I am all about the food and plan to eat my way around the world- was interesting. The food stalls were all down a little wee alley way at the end of the market. Mostly buffet style- pay your money and fill a plate with everything- noodles, rice, fruit, sausages, BBQ fish, BBQ chicken, fried bread, fried banana, dumplings... And then all the gory stuff- innards, chicken feet, chicken heads, frogs, insects...
It was interesting to try but I went vego- a lot of the meat sits around in e heat for hours, a plate of cooked chicken next to a plate or raw chicken, sharing flies...
Pam got a BBQ fish, fresh off the grill. I had a wee taste- definitely tasted like it had just come out of the Mekong had quite a strong taste of mud/dirt. But wasn't too bad. The whole meal cost about $4 each and that included a beer each as well. Beerlaos- very popular, a lot of people start drinking early on in the day, and not too bad. Refreshing. We have been enjoying 640ml bottled of the stuff- never manage it all though as it gets warm quickly.

The adventure will continue tomorrow- we are thinking about hiring bikes...

Hope all are well.
Big hugs and big love.
Xxx

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Love messages :)