Heya, so it's been a while since I've updated!!! We decided to leave Vang Vieng a day early as the town was getting quieter and we had been there long enough!!! We left Vang Vieng via mini bus!!! It was possibly one of the worst journeys of our lives!!!! Besides the fact that the roads are AWFUL, the mini bus was full so there was no leg rooms what so ever!!! There were two locals on it who stunk so bad that we covered our noses with our eye masks!!! I'm not one to be rude but to be fair they could have sprayed some deodorant on them selves before they left at the very least!!! They also had chickens with them and I thought the chickens were coming on.... I would have just walked off the bus if that was the case!!! After spending 15 min in dad's chicken coup at home I know enough to say I would have vomited if I had to put up with it for 6 hours!!! Luckily they were put on the roof!!! How they stayed on is beyond me with the bumps on that road but they did!!
So we arrived in Luang Prabang at around 7 and after that journey all we wanted to do was go out!!! In Luang Prabang everything shuts down at midnight!!! So we checked into the first hostel we could... It wasn't very nice but we didn't really care at that point and we went out! On our way out we passed another guest house and we met a couple of backpackers there and all went down to this bar that we had heard about!! It was a lovely relaxed kind of place... Everyone sitting on the floor on cushions or in a garden kind of place and lovely low lights etc!!! We found a stone table and seats and we all sat around and tried playing card games....the group grew bigger an we got chatting to lots of people!! Then it was midnight :-( so home time!!!
On out way home we realised we had not water so we were hoping to find a place which was open but it seemed like everywhere was closed. We passed this one place that had locals outside it under a marque and we thought we might be able to get something there. When we went up they just pulled us chairs ... Offered us shots of this drink (the equivalent to poitchin at home I think) they also gave us water and food!!! They asked us if we wanted beers so Trev gave someone money to get us some (they Obv knew places that you could buy after midnight) and Trev got them some beers too!! After a while I needed to use the bathroom so they pointed me in the direction an off I went. On my way back out I realised why all these people were gathered, we were at a wake!!! On the floor outside in the living area there was a body covered In a white sheet with a photograph above it!!! I said it to Trev when I went back out that we were at a wake but he didn't realise the body was inside!! The locals were celebrating the life of this man before he was buried. They were so lovely and hospitable towards us!!! One old old man read our tarrots and drew a sketch of me!! We finally left there at 5am ..... So much for our early night :-) Even though it was a wake , it was a great experience getting to meet locals and eat their food and drink their drink!!!
The next day we went to this waterfall called Kouang Si Waterfall. It was just beautiful!!! It is a tiered waterfall and the water was clear blue!!! It was a bit overcast that day but it was still divine!! We walked up to the top which had a huge waterfall!!! There was also a bear conservation park there so got to see some asiatic bears....they looked cute but I was still happy they were behind a fence :-) That night we went for a walk through the night market. It was gorgeous!!! There was so much I wanted to buy but I managed to control myself and just buy and bracelet (just a fabric one). There were lots if fabrics and knick knacks!!! The detail in everything is mental!! We grabbed a bite to eat and went back to that bar from the night before!! This time we did go back when it closed but we went back with a couple of the people we had met and we all went up onto the balcony of our guest house (we changed guesthouses from the night before for a cleaner one) and we had a couple of drinks!!! It was a good night!! The next day we were waiting around for a bus so we checked out of the guest house and walked around the town for a while and along the riverfront!! It was a beautiful town...very Parisian influence mixed with Asian so it was very pretty!!! We were getting picked up at 5pm from the hostel for another very interesting bus journey... I will fill you in about that on the next post :-)
Sara & Trev
Xxx