Luang Prabang was nice. The largest city in Laos, yet still quite small geographically wise. The urban sprawl was minimal.
We went out to visit a waterfall and I made a stupid mistake of wanting to climb to the top of it to see the view. Sweat was pouring off me by the time I made it up, and when I got up there, the view was blocked by all the large leafed trees. Ha. Saw a monk up there though, just randomly. I said to Steve
"Wow, whats a monk doing up here???"
He was like "I dunno, I think the same as us"
The monk reaches into his orange robes and pulls out a Sony 8mp digital camera, whistles us over and asks us to take his pic.
We travelled by bus through the mountains of Laos, which were stunning, and landed up in a small town called Vang Viene. 'What is this town famous for?', you may ask to yourself with your inquisitive mind. Well, basically, it is where you go to get drunk. A river runs through this town, and that river is lined with bars on each side. You are handed a large tube tyre and told to float between bars. Various water activities also adorn the rivers edge, such as water slides, giant acrobat swings and flying foxes.
It was amazing. High mountain tops with rocky outcrops shelter the river from strong winds, people are playing beer pong with Beerlao (the beer of choice), and the whole atmosphere speaks surprisingly little of Laotian culture.
We drank late. Too late. We left only an hour to leave the last bar and get back to town before dark.
It was not long enough.
Pretty quickly, the night came upon us and we found ourselves getting more and more lost. Here we were, in the middle of nowhere, in the pitch black, drunk and freaking out. I lost Renee. One minute she was there, then the next she was around half a kilometre down the river behind me. The rapids were picking up, and the water was getting cold...... Oh man, oh man.
Some Laotian boy hauled me out of the river and I spent ages calling Renees name. She was safe however, having bartered her way into a tuk tuk with her smile. It was freaky stuff but well worth the day.
So there is a warning:
LEAVE AT LEAST 2 HOURS (AROUND 4PM) TO HEAD OFF FROM THE LAST BAR!!!!:)
Right. Phew.
We have now travelled into the Capital of Laos and it is OK. Just did the most manic bike ride I have ever done in the rush hour of an Asian city. Who needs helmets, lights, or road rules?
Laos does.
Nam tomorrow.
We travelled by bus through the mountains of Laos, which were stunning, and landed up in a small town called Vang Viene. 'What is this town famous for?', you may ask to yourself with your inquisitive mind. Well, basically, it is where you go to get drunk. A river runs through this town, and that river is lined with bars on each side. You are handed a large tube tyre and told to float between bars. Various water activities also adorn the rivers edge, such as water slides, giant acrobat swings and flying foxes.
It was amazing. High mountain tops with rocky outcrops shelter the river from strong winds, people are playing beer pong with Beerlao (the beer of choice), and the whole atmosphere speaks surprisingly little of Laotian culture.
We drank late. Too late. We left only an hour to leave the last bar and get back to town before dark.
It was not long enough.
Pretty quickly, the night came upon us and we found ourselves getting more and more lost. Here we were, in the middle of nowhere, in the pitch black, drunk and freaking out. I lost Renee. One minute she was there, then the next she was around half a kilometre down the river behind me. The rapids were picking up, and the water was getting cold...... Oh man, oh man.
Some Laotian boy hauled me out of the river and I spent ages calling Renees name. She was safe however, having bartered her way into a tuk tuk with her smile. It was freaky stuff but well worth the day.
So there is a warning:
LEAVE AT LEAST 2 HOURS (AROUND 4PM) TO HEAD OFF FROM THE LAST BAR!!!!:)
Right. Phew.
We have now travelled into the Capital of Laos and it is OK. Just did the most manic bike ride I have ever done in the rush hour of an Asian city. Who needs helmets, lights, or road rules?
Laos does.
Nam tomorrow.