Luang Prabang - Laos part 2

Luang Prabang

Part 2! I AM going to get caught up on this blog. Even if it kills me.

We arrived in Luang Prabang the night of the 17^th, as I previously mentioned. One thing that was great about Laos was you could normally get a NICE hotel room for quite cheap – as in $5 per person for a double room. Most places in Thailand and Vietnam, when you pay that kind of price, your room is... not the best. I.e. gross and not especially comfortable. But these hotels in Laos were lovely – comfortable beds, nice wooden floors and just generally nice places to stay.

Luang Prabang is a really beautiful city. It’s set on the shore of the Mekong, surrounded by the mountains of Northern Laos. It feels like the city itself has developed a lot in the fairly recent past, which I think, is the same for much of the country. There are many new hotels, and restaurants, as well as the classic temples on every corner. My descriptions really don’t do it justice. Please refer to the pictures later.

After we checked into our hotel, we wandered over to the Night Market in the centre of town. There, you can find all sorts of food, fruit shakes, clothing, and souvenirs. That first night, we found a vegetarian buffet for about $1.50 for a plate. And Beer Lao for just over $1. Beer Lao is not only delicious, but quite cheap in most places. 

After dinner, we decided to head to the local bowling alley. This may seem like an odd choice but you need to remember that most places in Laos close at 11pm. From what I’ve heard, the purpose of the curfew is to battle the alcohol, drugs, and prostitution problems in the country. But anyway, the bowling alley is one of the few places in town that is open past 11 – most likely because they bribed the right people. So we found a tuk-tuk and made our way there. The bowling alley was the usual bowling alley, except it became super crowded and most people were there to drink, rather than bowl. We did managed to get a couple of lanes for ourselves, and bowled a couple games. After a few beers, “serious” bowling turned into “trick” bowling. For your first shot, you imitated the person’s trick who went before you, then you made up your own. My favourite trick of mine was doing a cartwheel, then pushing the ball down the lane. We’re cool.

18

Needless to say, after a late night of bowling, we didn’t get moving until pretty late on the 18^th. We discovered the most amazing cafe near our hotel, called Joma cafe. It was expensive (for SE Asia) but delicious. I had a bagel, egg and cheese sandwhich – first bagel since I left Canada!

In the late morning/early afternoon, we decided to go check out the Krung Sri waterfall nearby. To get there, we caught a tuk-tuk outside Joma cafe. The ride took about half an hour, and we went through the local small towns and farms. 

The waterfall was amazing. There were several pools before the actually main falls. In the largest pool, you could swim, as well as use the rope swing, and jump off a small water fall. The rope swing was fantastic. To get to the swing, you had to climb up a tree (wet from the all the water), then walk out on this (thick branch). There, you used a bamboo stick to “catch” the rope and pull it towards yourself. Then, you would thrust the stick to the person behind you, get a good grip on the rope (so you wouldn’t slip and fall), and throw yourself off the tree. It was awesome.

Closer to the falls, there were some smaller pools that were the greatest colour of turquoise. The falls themselves were spectacular – very tall and beautiful. There was a path you could take to the top, so we decided to go on a hike. In our bathing suits. The hike was more of a vertical climb. I was having fun because I enjoy this sort of adventuring, but I think some of the others weren’t so excited. At the top, you had a pretty nice view  but you couldn’t see the actual falls at all. Still a fun experience.

That night was similar to the night before – we had dinner in the Night Market. I had a bacon, avocado, and chicken sandwich with a fruit shake. It was SO GOOD. Laos, like Vietnam, has great bread. Mmmmmm. After dinner, we went to a bar called “Utopia” – open until 11:30. It was in a beautiful spot on the river. Much of the decor in the bar was based on bombs – a reference to the thousands of UXOs still scattered throughout the country. It was a neat place. After that, it was bowling time!

19

Again another late start, and again breakfast at Joma Cafe. I ordered chili, which I also hadn’t had since I left Canada. Mmmm. That afternoon, we decided to rent bicycles and explore the city a little more. We rode all around – on the river, through downtown... It was great. We eventually stopped in a fairly nice restaurant for late lunch. After that, Millie and I rode our bikes down to the most famous temple in Luang Prabang, Wat Hao Xiang. First, we watched the monks erecting a temporary building. There were several perched high up on the beams, without any safety equipment. After we explored the temple – it is one of the most beautiful I’ve seen in all my travels. The buildings were covered with these glass mosaic type decorations, depicting scenes and stories from Buddhism. Again, my descriptions don’t come close...

Before dinner, we climbed up to the top of the mountain in the centre of town – where they have a neat view point. You could see the entire city and surrounding area. After that, it was another night of the Night Market, followed by Utopia.