The drive to Luang Prabang was spectacular. We went through the jungle in the mountains. Pity we weren't awake for more of it. Niamh managed about twenty minutes of non-snoozy time during the eight hour journey. We arrived in Luang Prabang to torrential rain in the dark, as the bus was late, not exactly unexpected. Emmet went on a food run and we settled into our sweet guesthouse called Alounsavath Guesthouse that Jerry and Aisling booked for us. The next morning we met them for breakfast and planned our day.
The four of us got a Tuk Tuk to a waterfall called Kuang Si falls, an hour outside the town, which ensured sufficient quantity of brain shake for the day. We walked past the random bear conservation park first. They looked healthy enough. There was a nice hike up to the waterfall with swimming and picnic spots along the way. The waterfall was beautiful. It was really high and has lots of smaller falls beneath it. We went swimming in a pool, but ended up getting out quickly to get away from the fish sucking at our feet. Except for Jerry who braved a few rope swings into the water as well as an impressive dive off a rapid.
Later on, we climbed Phousi hill for sunset. We left a little late so had to sprint up the hill to make it. The sunset was a bit of an anti-climax but the views over the town were worth the sweat.
There is a good food market every evening which serves barbecue for ridiculously cheap prices and bottles of Laos beer. We figured it would be rude not to indulge. We went with Jerry and Aisling and two Kiwi lads they met in Vietnam, Nick and Dan. We then went to a great bar called Utopia. We sat at a low tables on cushions on the floor drinking more Laos beer.
We decided to go to a small rural village set in limestone karst mountains called Nong Khiaw for a couple of days. It is only just over two and a half hours away by bus. We stayed in Nam Ou River Lodge. The rooms were grand, but I wouldn't recommend that people stay there. We didn't trust the owner and felt quite ripped off by the end.
We arrived early and had most of the day to play with, so decided to go for a walk. We walked a couple of kilometres to Tham Patok Cave where locals hid when the Americans bombed to country to shit. Laos is the most bombed country in the world. It was used as a supply route by the Vietnamese, which gave the Americans significant incentive to drop masses of cluster bombs, many still in the ground unexploded.
The cave was a little less developed that we had anticipated. We first had to walk across, or rather through, the bridgeless river to the "guides" (ie some lads who hang around all day waiting for people like us). This was doubly fun since Jerry had just seen a water snake in a nearby stream. There were five or six fellas so we planned how we take them if they turned out to be opportunists. It mainly involved letting karate Jerry do his thing. We then climbed up a rickety stair case until we hit a gate half way up. So, a gate as an obstacle, what is the normal thing to do? Open it? Not if it is padlocked with no key. Instead, we climbed over this gate 20 foot up. The cave itself was quite small, and like most other caves in the world, paled in comparison to Khong Lor. The "guide" told us at one stage five hundred people were camped in it. They even had signs showing were the governor, communications unit etc congregated. Getting down the gate was less troublesome than we expected.
Emmet showed his steely determination in the face adversity on the way back through the river. Something started sucking at his foot (I am glad this is not a problem we have in Ireland, although I have heard it is known to happen in Coppers), so he started screaming and thrashing his leg about. It gave up and sucked somewhere else and Emmet bolted across the river faster than I have ever seen him move.
That evening after dinner, Jerry and Aisling introduced us to the joys of Liverpool Rummy, an addictive card game that we will be having parties centred around when we get home. You have been warned. We attempted to drink a few beers but the fella working was more determined to sleep than we were to drink apparently. He went for a snooze in the beer storage room and was not bothered by our incessant knocking.
The next day we rented out some bicycles. You would think in Asia of all places the bikes would be suited to people of smaller stature. You would be wrong. Niamh struggled to find a mountain bike small enough and Aisling hadn't a hope. Aisling ended up getting a city bike with no gears instead. We cycled out the road, which was a lot hillier than necessary for leisurely cycle. We went through beautiful scenery and quaint little villages with small wooden stilt houses.
The people were very friendly and every child shouted Sabadee (hello) to us. At one stage Niamh was waving to a child and pulled on the brakes to slow down a little. Unfortunately, she pulled on the front brakes and ended up going over the handles bars. It was just what she needed, more injuries. A few villagers were standing around not really knowing what to do and just to add to the embarrassment, sure why not, a few more villagers came out of their houses to see what the commotion was. Other than a sore wrist, she got off lightly, especially considering what could have been.
We booked a boat back to Luang Prabang. We arose early in the morning to the mother of all rain storms and reconsidered our mode of conveyance (we have been playing a lot of scrabble). The owner tried to convince us that the rain wasn't too bad. Unfortunately for him we have eyes and therefore were not fooled. We lost half the price of the boat fare and then he took advantage of the fact that there are limited transport options and fleeced us on the bus ticket. Nice little earner for him. Sneaky fecker.
That evening we went to the market again for food and a gander. The market is much more low pressure than many of the markets in Asia and full of colourful tribal handicrafts. However, like the other markets, sells a limited range of things, with loads of stalls selling the exact same product. I don't know how they make a living selling the same things. But it is nice to walk around and Niamh got craft envy looking at all the embroidered bags.
That night we went to a really nice bar called Icon. It's run by a Hungarian lady. It is really nicely decorated, kind of French boudoir style. It was expensive though. It is twice the price for a Beer Lao than anywhere else, which is the bar you set on prices over here. But she has a good selection, the cocktails look good, so a second visit will be done. Did someone say White Russian. Nice!
Jerry and his Aisling were to head off on their boat to Thailand the next morning. This was not possible as the rain had been so bad, there had been a mud slide and full trees were floating down stream. Basically half a forest, so no boats that day. Unless of course your a mental Laos lad who loves a bit of fire wood and chooses to jump into his rubbish row boat that he has to empty the water out several times a trip. Then jump into said fast flowing river and tie ropes around the massive tree trunks to haul them to the river bank. Health & Safety would have a shit fit if they saw these lads. One trunk took one of these boats from under one bloke, who happened to be beside one of the larger boats. He jumped and grabbed onto the side of the other boat and swung out of it while looking up at me and laughing. Barking mad I tell ya. I stayed firmly rooted to the footpath and figured I'd leave them to it.
So that day Niamh, Jerry and Aisling all went to the National History Museum. Emmet wasn't feeling the may west, so he stayed in bed watching awful Asian TV and even worse HBO. They are the equivalent of an echo with amount of repeats. I've seen Transformers, Dark Side Of The Moon four times this month. I mean it's good but come on. The one decent movie channel they seem to have is dubbed. Terribly dubbed at that. One woman does everyones voice, without emotion. Ah well, at least the Olympics is on and good aul Katie Taylor won the gold medal. She is amazing, and probably our best ever athlete. PROUD TO BE IRISH!!!!
Myself and Niamhington have decided to stay in Luang Prabang for the week until we get our first flight of the trip to Thailand. It is a very pretty town, full of French style colonial buildings, temples and lovely cafes, bars and restaurants. It is one of our favourite places in South East Asia and a great place to just hang out. We moved to a cheaper but still nice guesthouse called Sikoukhone Guesthouse. We have decided that for the next five days doing stuff is over rated. So instead, we will chill on the balcony, read, drink lots of cups of tea and play scrabble on the computer (Jerry's fault). We will also gorge ourselves on lots of great meals for under a fiver before we resort to living on cheesy puffs in Australia and New Zealand. We need a rest, I know, I know, go and f*#k ourselves, but traveling does take alot of energy. Your nearly always on the go. A couple of fourteen hour bus journeys on Asian roads, mixed with humidity and you'll soon see what we mean. Beats working though.
Well that will be all for now folks. Thailand next. Then onto New Zealand. You know, the closer we get, on quite nights, I swear I can almost hear O'Dowda snoring and other times the sound of a knee being slapped rigorously with echo of ah man, ah man......
For more photos follow the link.
The four of us got a Tuk Tuk to a waterfall called Kuang Si falls, an hour outside the town, which ensured sufficient quantity of brain shake for the day. We walked past the random bear conservation park first. They looked healthy enough. There was a nice hike up to the waterfall with swimming and picnic spots along the way. The waterfall was beautiful. It was really high and has lots of smaller falls beneath it. We went swimming in a pool, but ended up getting out quickly to get away from the fish sucking at our feet. Except for Jerry who braved a few rope swings into the water as well as an impressive dive off a rapid.
Later on, we climbed Phousi hill for sunset. We left a little late so had to sprint up the hill to make it. The sunset was a bit of an anti-climax but the views over the town were worth the sweat.
There is a good food market every evening which serves barbecue for ridiculously cheap prices and bottles of Laos beer. We figured it would be rude not to indulge. We went with Jerry and Aisling and two Kiwi lads they met in Vietnam, Nick and Dan. We then went to a great bar called Utopia. We sat at a low tables on cushions on the floor drinking more Laos beer.
We decided to go to a small rural village set in limestone karst mountains called Nong Khiaw for a couple of days. It is only just over two and a half hours away by bus. We stayed in Nam Ou River Lodge. The rooms were grand, but I wouldn't recommend that people stay there. We didn't trust the owner and felt quite ripped off by the end.
We arrived early and had most of the day to play with, so decided to go for a walk. We walked a couple of kilometres to Tham Patok Cave where locals hid when the Americans bombed to country to shit. Laos is the most bombed country in the world. It was used as a supply route by the Vietnamese, which gave the Americans significant incentive to drop masses of cluster bombs, many still in the ground unexploded.
The cave was a little less developed that we had anticipated. We first had to walk across, or rather through, the bridgeless river to the "guides" (ie some lads who hang around all day waiting for people like us). This was doubly fun since Jerry had just seen a water snake in a nearby stream. There were five or six fellas so we planned how we take them if they turned out to be opportunists. It mainly involved letting karate Jerry do his thing. We then climbed up a rickety stair case until we hit a gate half way up. So, a gate as an obstacle, what is the normal thing to do? Open it? Not if it is padlocked with no key. Instead, we climbed over this gate 20 foot up. The cave itself was quite small, and like most other caves in the world, paled in comparison to Khong Lor. The "guide" told us at one stage five hundred people were camped in it. They even had signs showing were the governor, communications unit etc congregated. Getting down the gate was less troublesome than we expected.
Emmet showed his steely determination in the face adversity on the way back through the river. Something started sucking at his foot (I am glad this is not a problem we have in Ireland, although I have heard it is known to happen in Coppers), so he started screaming and thrashing his leg about. It gave up and sucked somewhere else and Emmet bolted across the river faster than I have ever seen him move.
That evening after dinner, Jerry and Aisling introduced us to the joys of Liverpool Rummy, an addictive card game that we will be having parties centred around when we get home. You have been warned. We attempted to drink a few beers but the fella working was more determined to sleep than we were to drink apparently. He went for a snooze in the beer storage room and was not bothered by our incessant knocking.
The next day we rented out some bicycles. You would think in Asia of all places the bikes would be suited to people of smaller stature. You would be wrong. Niamh struggled to find a mountain bike small enough and Aisling hadn't a hope. Aisling ended up getting a city bike with no gears instead. We cycled out the road, which was a lot hillier than necessary for leisurely cycle. We went through beautiful scenery and quaint little villages with small wooden stilt houses.
The people were very friendly and every child shouted Sabadee (hello) to us. At one stage Niamh was waving to a child and pulled on the brakes to slow down a little. Unfortunately, she pulled on the front brakes and ended up going over the handles bars. It was just what she needed, more injuries. A few villagers were standing around not really knowing what to do and just to add to the embarrassment, sure why not, a few more villagers came out of their houses to see what the commotion was. Other than a sore wrist, she got off lightly, especially considering what could have been.
We booked a boat back to Luang Prabang. We arose early in the morning to the mother of all rain storms and reconsidered our mode of conveyance (we have been playing a lot of scrabble). The owner tried to convince us that the rain wasn't too bad. Unfortunately for him we have eyes and therefore were not fooled. We lost half the price of the boat fare and then he took advantage of the fact that there are limited transport options and fleeced us on the bus ticket. Nice little earner for him. Sneaky fecker.
That evening we went to the market again for food and a gander. The market is much more low pressure than many of the markets in Asia and full of colourful tribal handicrafts. However, like the other markets, sells a limited range of things, with loads of stalls selling the exact same product. I don't know how they make a living selling the same things. But it is nice to walk around and Niamh got craft envy looking at all the embroidered bags.
That night we went to a really nice bar called Icon. It's run by a Hungarian lady. It is really nicely decorated, kind of French boudoir style. It was expensive though. It is twice the price for a Beer Lao than anywhere else, which is the bar you set on prices over here. But she has a good selection, the cocktails look good, so a second visit will be done. Did someone say White Russian. Nice!
Jerry and his Aisling were to head off on their boat to Thailand the next morning. This was not possible as the rain had been so bad, there had been a mud slide and full trees were floating down stream. Basically half a forest, so no boats that day. Unless of course your a mental Laos lad who loves a bit of fire wood and chooses to jump into his rubbish row boat that he has to empty the water out several times a trip. Then jump into said fast flowing river and tie ropes around the massive tree trunks to haul them to the river bank. Health & Safety would have a shit fit if they saw these lads. One trunk took one of these boats from under one bloke, who happened to be beside one of the larger boats. He jumped and grabbed onto the side of the other boat and swung out of it while looking up at me and laughing. Barking mad I tell ya. I stayed firmly rooted to the footpath and figured I'd leave them to it.
So that day Niamh, Jerry and Aisling all went to the National History Museum. Emmet wasn't feeling the may west, so he stayed in bed watching awful Asian TV and even worse HBO. They are the equivalent of an echo with amount of repeats. I've seen Transformers, Dark Side Of The Moon four times this month. I mean it's good but come on. The one decent movie channel they seem to have is dubbed. Terribly dubbed at that. One woman does everyones voice, without emotion. Ah well, at least the Olympics is on and good aul Katie Taylor won the gold medal. She is amazing, and probably our best ever athlete. PROUD TO BE IRISH!!!!
Myself and Niamhington have decided to stay in Luang Prabang for the week until we get our first flight of the trip to Thailand. It is a very pretty town, full of French style colonial buildings, temples and lovely cafes, bars and restaurants. It is one of our favourite places in South East Asia and a great place to just hang out. We moved to a cheaper but still nice guesthouse called Sikoukhone Guesthouse. We have decided that for the next five days doing stuff is over rated. So instead, we will chill on the balcony, read, drink lots of cups of tea and play scrabble on the computer (Jerry's fault). We will also gorge ourselves on lots of great meals for under a fiver before we resort to living on cheesy puffs in Australia and New Zealand. We need a rest, I know, I know, go and f*#k ourselves, but traveling does take alot of energy. Your nearly always on the go. A couple of fourteen hour bus journeys on Asian roads, mixed with humidity and you'll soon see what we mean. Beats working though.
Well that will be all for now folks. Thailand next. Then onto New Zealand. You know, the closer we get, on quite nights, I swear I can almost hear O'Dowda snoring and other times the sound of a knee being slapped rigorously with echo of ah man, ah man......
For more photos follow the link.
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