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Mai, they only have a few flights a day yet still manage. . . .whaddya
know, murphy's law. We are now up in the clouds over Luang Prabang on
a tiny 60 seater plan, no engines, just propellors. Still could be
worse, we have to fly through Bangkok on Tuesday to get to Krabi which
at the moment is not possible with the airport being closed. We may
have to book different flights & fly via somewhere else or get a 24 hr
train down there. At least we have options, Giada & Lauren are flying
to Bangkok in 2 days so may no be so lucky.
The situation there is so silly but at least they are not attacking us
Farang, like in Irndia, but are still a nuisance!
Luang Prabang was quite nice, but a bit of a let down after Vang
Vieng. It caters more for the middle aged american travellers and was
definately the most touristy place we saw in Laos. Our hotel(Muanglao
Guesthouse) was ok but had to move rooms a couple of times as the
building works next door were really loud but eventually we got a
decent room. We took the first day easy to relax after our
rollercoaster bus ride and cycled around town to check it out at had
an awesome green curry at a restaurant on the river. For some reason
all the restaurants down by the river are really cheap but 2 roads up
are twice the price. The night market was really cool although most
people were selling the same stuff so once you have seen 1 scarf or
lantern you have seen them all. A definate highlight of Laos was
Mirinda! Orange, green & red, basically fanta orange, irn bru and
sparberry! Served in a packet with a straw. . . Will miss those.
We booked an all day mountain bike trip with White Elephant tours for
the following day but when we woke up Jacqui wasn't feeling great, she
didn't finish her breakfast and when she leaves fresh fruit behind you
know there is something wrong! However we decided to go anyway,
halfway through the introduction Jacqui ended up with her head in the
bushes showing the guide what she had for dinner the night before! And
just in case he didn't see, she showed him again! We postponed till
the next day & spent the rest of the day watching movies from the 90's
in the hotel room. Jacqui was kind enough though to show the waiter at
the restaurant I had lunch at what he missed earlier that morning, 3
times!
Next morning we were both feeling ill but had to do the ride today as
it was our last full day. The other people on the tour pulled out
through illness so we could at least go at our own pace although even
in our state the guides(Lee) pace was soooooo slow, think he is used
to fat american tourists, so we had to hurry him up a bit. We stopped
at a weaving village and saw the ladies making all the stuffs for the
market, it takes them 3 days to make 1 scarf on their looms! And 5
days for a tablecloth. It makes you think how you could have the
audacity to bargain them down from 40000 kip to 35000 kip . . . About
40p. Although we did get them from 50 000 kip to 35 000 for something
but when it came to paying, just paid the full price. It was £1 to us,
but a lot more to them. I just wanted to win the bargaining game &
show them who the boss was.
The main destination was Tad Sae waterfall which was amazing, it is a
cascading waterfall about 60m long, will pools to swim in at various
points, and if you are sicknote(Jacqui), pretend you are in some
shampoo advert under the waterfall. Bumped into Dave the canadian who
we met whilst kayaking in Vang Vieng, may seem him in Chiang Mai &
Krabi too.
The cycle back was on tar roads thank goodness as my butt was aching
from the dirt road on the way there. We stopped at another village and
the guide showed us how the whole village worked. It cost $2000 to
build a new house, but is done in 3/4 stages over up to 10 years as
they can't afford it all at once. A couple of houses had satellite
dishes the size of . . . Well big! Just for a few tv channels.
This particular village has moved from a more remote area but the
government said they would not help them will electricity, roads etc
so they had to relocate in order to have these 'luxuries'. The men of
the village were not around as they were all out hunting for dinner,
not hunting for a bargain at Marks & Spencers, but hunting for
squirrel, snake, wild cat etc.
Needless to say we were feeling sorry for ourselves when we got back
so went for a pizza and an early night. Still not quite sure what is
wrong with us, I am ok now but jacqui is far from 100%. Could be 2
weeks of asian food, the water, something she ate or
malaria........hopefully should pass by tomorrow and if not at least
Chiang Mai has proper pharmacies & doctors, the Luang Prabang pharmacy
was a stall on the side of the road!
All in all Laos was quite an eye opener, it is classed as one of the
most under developed countries in the world. Anything imported is
really expensive & not much is made there. The people don't know much
about the outside world, not knowing where South Africa is or who
Mandela ihs, I guess that's what years of communism can do to a
country.
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