Boom Bang a Luang PraBang

Arrived in darkness, took a short tuk-tuk ride into the centre and after wandering around quite a few guesthouses we managed to find a large room with a window for under a fiver. We were both ravenous and after dumping our bags headed towards a busy restaurant for some well deserved food. We hadn’t even finished eating when the family started to cart the tables and chairs inside and it was only 10pm!!

I didn’t have a great sleep as the wooden floor between us and reception had light coming through the cracks and the fan whirred away for most of the night underneath us. So we spent most of Sunday morning finding and transferring our things to the Mano guesthouse which had a great room (ensuite) for less than the night before. We decided to go for a wander and made it as far as Wat Wisunalat which had a Lotus Stupa built in 1514. I sat sketching for a bit in the shade whilst Chris sat in the sunshine writing up the blogger. I looked up at one point and there were about 20 young kids all crowding around him with one wee boy trying desperately to fit into a space to see what was going on - I only wish I had the camera!!


Later we wandered along the night market with the goods on blankets on the ground and uncovered light bulbs at every stall. We ate dinner that night in the market with a lovely jovial lady who laughed at everything. Dinner consisted of a bowl that could be filled with as much as you liked with noodles, rice, potatoes, sweet potatoes and other vegetable assortments for only 27p!! It was delicious and washed down with a Beer Lao what more could one ask for. We spent more time wandering around the market which sold some gorgeous bed linen (hand stitched), cushion covers, paper and woven lanterns, t-shirts and the usual trinkets galore. They also sold machetes and knifes in sheaths (would like to see them get away with that in Glasgow!!).


We knew that Pete and Penny were arriving sometime today and had heard earlier in the day that George Best had died. So we figured that Pete would be upset and as we were walking along we spied them both in the internet. Pete was just as we’d thought, although he was extremely pleased that the press were writing about him as a footballer and not as in his later life as a celebrity alcoholic. Chris and Pete reminisced about the times that they had seen him play live (well Chris was only 7 so I don’t know how much he really remembered). We had a drink with them and they told us about their two day boat trip which seemed a much better choice than our bus journey. Afterwards Chris & I went into a place called the Hive for a beer, which had some good music and also some red bottles hanging from a tree.

We decided to climb up Phu Si which had several wats and plenty of steps for us to climb. Most of the Buddha statues were quite new but they also had a Buddha foot imprint which had curved toes although it looked as though it had come from this world. We then went further up and saw some monkeys tied with a piece of material around their waists which was attached to a hoop. The hoops were through bamboo stalks and the monkeys ran up and down these trying to work out away to escape. One of them kept falling off and dangling by it’s waist, it would do this time and time again and then jump up using the material to bounce back onto the bamboo. At the top we saw great views over Luang Prabang and the Mekong and Nam Khan Rivers and sat for a while enjoying the sunshine before heading down for a well deserved Beer Lao. In the evening we had a grilled fish, which was really tasty as it was stuffed with lemon grass, and a bowl of food in the night market.


On Tuesday we decided to get our Vietnam visa from a travel agent in town, so as we were taking our things we bumped into Donna (from the plastic stool journey) and her boyfriend Marc (from the posh part of Manchester). So we had a blether over a coffee and then did our admin things. We had arranged to meet them later that night along with a German guy called Flo. They all fancied the idea of a Laos hotpot, after our experience in China we really didn’t want another crap meal but Donna (having been to China herself) assured us that this was nothing like the Chinese one. So we all walked along by the river and went into the Lao Lao Restaurant.

The waiters came and removed a tile from the middle of the table and then dumped a large iron bucket with hot charcoals in its place. Then came the hotpot dish which had a place for the meat at the top with a lip around the side which is where you put in water and initially veg with some stock to make a tasty soup. You also added two raw eggs and noodles to this. So the waiter put some stuff on for us and then it was a free for all with us all sticking bits and pieces on. This was delicious!! We then sat next to an open fire and had a few more beers at 11.00 it was last orders and then we had to leave at 12 as the licensing laws in Laos are a little strange.

We had arranged to meet up with the guys the next day and head out to a waterfall so off we went to the Tad Sae waterfall in a tuk-tuk for about 20 mins and then a short boat ride to take us to the waterfall. The only disconcerting thing about the boat was that they kept on removing water from it with a plastic tub. The waterfalls were beautiful with different levels of water cascading down. There were tables and chairs in the water for you to sit on, so we went in for a dip - it was absolutely freezing but once you get your shoulders in (that is according to Mr Reilly anyway) everything will be fine . There weren’t that many people around so it was easy just to sip a beer, have a swim and chill for several hours in this really scenic spot.


Later we all decided to head for a cheap meal in the market, Marc and the woman had a thing going whereby she tried to squeeze past him and would giggle like a school kid. We weren’t disappointed with the food again. We went back to the place we were in last night for drinks and also decided that we were going to try a Lao Beer Bomb. So firstly we had a cocktail, then a Lao Beer Bomb which consisted of Lao Beer, Lao Vadtka (vodka), M-150 (a red bull type drink) and a dash of 7up. Well I really didn’t like mine so Chris got almost two. Several drinks later and Donna stands up with the guitar everyone thinks - yeah someone’s going to play, but we knew that Donna couldn’t as she had told us earlier - “It’s out of tune” she said whilst we all fell about laughing.


We all suffered for it the next day and decided to go to a posh hotel and laze by the pool. The pool was even colder than the waterfall but it was worth it for a dip in the sunshine. Chris went to watch footie with Flo & Marc, it was a “Worthless Cup” game between Liverpool vs. Sunderland. Later on we all went to the Hive bar for a few ‘quiet’ drinks since the others were leaving the next day. So it was Beer Lao and several Shots all around. The conversation got round to the fact that Chris wore a ‘skirt’ for his wedding and I explained to Marc how the kilt actually worked. Flo then pipes up that he has a full lederhosen outfit back home which he brings out for special occasions. Flo is over 6 foot and I wouldn’t say that he is that well built (but not as skinny as Vinny) so he has promised to send us some pictures! After finding this rather amusing Marc then tells us about two of his “English” mates back home who regularly visit the pub in the full lederhosen garb and sip their pints. Before we knew it our time was up and we said farewell to our new friends.


On Friday we went more Wat hunting and spent some time in Wat Sop. Chris was taking some pictures and got chatting to a young monk who wanted to practise his English. At the same time another monk asked me to help him with a speech he had to do and he was struggling with some of the words. So I spent some time with him and Chris came round and we all sat chatting. Turns out he is building many Buddha statues and Stupas for his temple. He is also learning English so that he can teach it and become a tour guide in later years. We must have been there for over an hour at least and it was a nice way to while away some time. After this we wandered around several more Wat’s and in particular Wat Xieng Thong which was built in 1560 and remained within the royal patronage until 1975 when the royals were exiled to the north where after they were never seen again.


We’d both been feeling a little ropey for a couple of days and at night we decided to have an Indian in Nazim’s restaurant. After we ordered we heard fireworks going off to mark the end of the National Laos day and the only other celebrations we heard were several cars going by about 4.30am that morning with folks banging drums and singing. The locals and tourists all stood in the street to watch them. The food in this place was almost as good as the New Annand’s (our local Indian restaurant back home) and reminded us of the many delicious takeaways we got from there.


On Saturday we were both feeling a little chirpier and decided to head to another waterfall called the Kuang Si falls in the afternoon. So we paid to go on a minibus and sat back and watched as the fields went into small villages, the road wasn’t too bad apart from the many precarious wooden bridges that we had to drive over. We then arrived at the falls. To “entertain” their guests they also have a tiger and some bears.


We saw the tiger lazing in the afternoon sunshine enclosed with a metal fence with a sign saying Don’t put you fingers in Tigers BITE. We then made our way to the waterfall which had a huge drop but there weren’t as many tiers cascading into each other. We both went in for a dip and yes again it was fine once you got your shoulders under - so I did this rather quickly to get it over and done with. You had to manouvre across several tree trunks to get in.

It was our last night and what better way to finish it off than to wander through the market. I was so tempted to buy one of the bed linen sets but in the words of Mr Reilly “You don’t have a home to put it in!”, so instead I opted for some more light shades. We met up with Karen (who we’d met at the waterfall) and she also brought along a couple of odd French guys. One of them could hardly speak as he was a little worse for wear, and they told us their names but we couldn’t make them out with their thick French accents. We all headed down towards the Mekong River to a traditional Laos barbeque restaurant and ate away to our hearts content. The other French guy regaled us with hilarious tales of living in a squat in Amsterdam, his numerous tattoos (including wanting to have his whole body done) and piercings.


To end our last night Chris and I had a couple of Beer Lao in the Maylek pub whilst watching some football and eating peanuts, crisp dried bananas and rice that tasted like popcorn. We watched “Revolver” on DVD and set our alarm for an early rise the next day.

Got up at 5.15am and finished our packing (so before any of you guys say it some times it is a hard life travelling!!). We then went out to watch the morning ritual for the monks who wandered around the streets near their temples receiving offerings of food from the locals. It was dark when we went out, but within half an hour the light started to come through. It was a humbling sight watching about 60 or so monks filing by in their orange robes receiving mainly rice from the locals. We were told by the monk we met a few days ago that this is their daily meals (they eat twice a day).


We then said goodbye to Luang Prabang and took a tuk-tuk to the bus station.