Luang Prabang SHEBANG (sorry)

After the boat trip that was more Apocalypse Now than Huckleberry Finn, it was a relief to arrive in Luang Prabang, a beautiful and unexpected French Colonial town with wine and baguettes amongst the noodles and monks.  Luang Prabang is a UNESCO world heritage site which means that the town isn't full of hustling bus drivers, neon signs and lady boys.  In fact, buses and trucks aren't allowed within the town centre at all.

 

 

After getting our bearings, enjoying wine, crepes and baguettes and finding a great colonial style guest house we went out to explore the sites.

 

The Royal Palace Museum, full of national treasures and a LOT of images of Buddha

We continued our obsession with everything wet by taking a Tuk Tuk to the spectacular waterfalls at Khoun Si. Next to the waterfalls was a bear santuary where rescued 'moon bears' or Asiatic black bears lived. They looked happy : )

  

  

Lodgings here don't look too shabby - if you like the bear necessities, arf.

Bear with me, arf arf.

 

  

  

  

After a few drinks in Utopia, a bar which lives up to it's name with loads of reclining sun loungers, axe pillows and cushions on a 28 metre 'skydeck', we headed home to find a party in full swing in our garden. It was the owner of the hostel's birthday and it was Beer Lao and fried chicken wings all round. Sadly there is no photo evidence as everyone had to dash at 11.30 becauseof the curfew.

We have been enjoying a wide variety of foods here including a novel BBQ arrangement:

 

The man came and lifted out the centre of our table and it was transformed in to a barbeque with a bucket of hot coals. Then they placed a silver dish on top which simultaneously cooked a delicious soup made with the water buffalo juices running from the grill on top. Matt was a soup fiend!

Also there are MASSIVE sandwiches - Anna would be jealous of my enormous bap:

Climbed up to Phu Si hill above Luang Prabang to see the temple, the sacred cave and Buddha's footprint and to get a panoramic view of the city.

Don't worry, they're not really monks.

Buddha's foot is the one on the left.

Here you can see that on the zebra crossing signs they have a picture of a lady! Also the fat man in the dress behind  me has been following us since Chiang Mai  : S

We have met a few interesting characters here, Laos and Dutch (unsurprisingly) including Erklass who once drove some famous Thai monks to Belgium...Anyway, we're off to the book shop/exchange WHICH IS ALSO A TEASHOP AND BAKERY!!! Jenny is very happy with this!

See youse in Nong Khiaw...

P.S. Jenny 88 - Matt 87, watch this space for more hot monk watching action!

Slowboat to Laos

We travelled from Chiang Mai to Chiang Khong by bus and the next day we took a ferry across the river to Huoay Xai in Laos. After the usual immigration kerfuffel we set off for Day One of our Slowboat Journey!

The boat was VERY crowded and not a little uncomfortable, but we made the best of the space we had:

 

 Throughout this trip, despite the guitarists and beer louts and being distracted by the spectacular scenery, Jen finally finished her White Whale!

 

  

 

After eight hours on the slow boat, a night stop in Pak Beng was very welcome! In Laos there is a curfew at 12.00 midnight. This means that the bars stop serving and everything closes. In Pak Beng (and other rural areas) the electricity stops at ten, unless you have a generator. Our guesthouse didn't...it was poker for bottletops for us!

Boats in the harbour at Pak Beng - people lived on these boats. This picture comprises the majority of Pak Beng!

After a subsequent 8 hour trip the following day, this scene marked the end of  Day Two of our boat trip with Luang Prabang just around the corner!

Pai in the skai!

All roads lead to Pai it seems...


So we left Chiang Mai on a whim and headed up north to Pai and it has been brilliant! Best place so far I reckons! It's a small,quiet, hippyish town and everyone is very relaxed and happy!

The Pai street! Arf!

 We arrived and after we settled in, we hired a scooter for a few days and went off adventuring with Mark and an Australian lady named Sarah!

After some initial screaming I (Jenny) got used to the scooter and we hit the dizzying speeds of 80kph - maybe faster on bendy mountains!

 Because when Matt was riding the motorbike he was obviously James Dean, we decided to name the bike Marlon Brando. On the left you can see the three of us together! What larks!














We scooted to:

Pai 'Canyon'

 Tha Pai Hot Springs! Very warm and lots of fun in the rain!



















Pam Bok Waterfall - frolics!

The Land Crack

We won't tell you what this is - you'll have to come here to find out. Needless to say, it was a MASSIVE high point in our trip!

So in one day we toured the surrounding areas checking out the local tourist attractions. We went to everywhere that was marked with a star on our free map! Pai nightlife consists of tattooists; namely Nelson who was originally from the Philippines and spoke Thai and English with a Jamaican accent, live music, jazz, free shots of nameless 'alcohol' and bars made of bamboo!

We spent the rest of the time exploring the lesser marked attractions and drove through some of the most beautiful countryside around the town.

 

  

We drove to a waterfall nearby yesterday, and it was brilliant! There were deep pools to swim in and the rocks were smooth enough to slide down...

 

  

  

 

We stayed in a really nice guesthouse with a pool and hammocks and bungalows. Ours looked out onto a paddy field!

 

 

View from our bungalow window

Now sadly its time for us to leave Pai, so see you in Laos!

Cooking! : )

 

Below: papaya salad (Matt) and Spring Rolls (Jenny)

 

 Matt shoving deep fried bananananana in his face!















Today we learned how to cook Thai food and I dont think I have ever eaten so much EVER! We had to cook seven different dishes and then eat them all! Some of the things were spring rolls, deep fried banana, pad thai and loads of others. The lady taught us some handy tips and we learned about Thai vegetables, herbs, rice and noodles. She gave us a cook book so we wouldn't forget what we had learned and has promised to put picyures of our day on this website - check the 10th of July. The pics above are of us getting stuck into our cooking and eating - Yum!