Luang Prabang, Laos (Post #76)
Hello from Laos!
Michele here…typing this for the second time. (I lost this blog the first time I typed it.)
We arrived in Luang Prabang, Laos from Chiang Mai, Thailand (via Bangkok) on December 30th. We didn’t get much sleep the night before our flight because we met some other travelers and had a few beers with them (staying out later than we should have). I thought this was why I wasn’t feeling so great when we arrived at the airport. Our plan was to fly from Chiang Mai to Bangkok then Bangkok to Luang Prabang, Laos. The first flight from Chiang Mai to Bangkok was fine but I still felt bad. I had an upset stomach that didn’t seem to be going away. In the Bangkok airport, I ate some french fries but that was it for the day. Then things got ugly. I was feeling more than a bit bad on the flight from Bangkok to Luang Prabang and ended up vomitting on the airplane. (Have you ever known anyone to use those air sickness bags? Well, you do now!) When we landed I just couldn’t wait until to get through passport control, catch a tuk-tuk, and get to the guest house where we had reservations. So, we get to the guest house and they had given our room away – something about the guy who made the reservation wasn’t there and they didn’t know and blah, blah, blah. So, we go to a few other guest houses and they are all full. Sigh. We finally find a place, and although $15/night seems high, we take it.
The remainder of the day (and night) I am in the bathroom throwing up. God, this really sucks. When I’m not throwing up, I feel like I want to and am totally nauseous. Plus I am achey and have a fever. So, the next two days I stay in bed. Mike goes out and scouts out the town.
At 11:45pm on December 31st, I ask Mike if he will go out with me so I can see what’s happening for New Year’s. Mike had described all the lights and balloons that were put up for the New Year and I was anxious to see the big celebration. We walked along the streets and at midnight, instead of a big count down by everyone, nothing happens. The restaurants and bars are still buzzing with people but no one seems to notice that midnight on December 31st has come and gone. Weird.
The next day I felt good enough to walk around. This town is really beautiful. It sits on the Mekong River and the surounding environment is green, green, green. Here is a picture I took with some kids playing on a sand bar. You can see the green fields on the other side of the river.
There is a hill in the middle of the town with four wats (temples) on it. We walked up to the top where I took this photo:
Here is a photo of one of the wats (or a component of the wat) on Phu Si hill:
The next day we took a boat trip 25 km up the Mekong River to Pak Ou, where there are two famous caves full of Buddha images, sort of like a Buddha graveyard. There were stunning views the entire boat trip and along the way to Pak Ou, we stopped at two villages. The first village specializes in making paper. It was interesting to see the people making the paper and some of the products (such as paper lanterns). The second village is called “Whisky Village” because it much of the Lao whisky comes from this village. They had very interesting packaging ideas for the whisky. Several of the bottles of whisky contained snakes (including green vipors and cobras), scorpions, or giant centipedes in them. Like I said….very interesting packaging concept.
We get to the caves and find there are several Buddha graveyards. Here is a picture of one:
Mike and I also really liked the night market in Luang Prabang. We wished we had saved all our money to buy things here. The quality and variety of stuff they sell in this market can’t be beat. Plus, there are food venders selling great food for very little money. On our last night in town (January 2nd), we got a buffet dinner at the night market for 50 cents!
On January 3rd, we rode a 6 hour bus from Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng, Laos (which is where we are now). I’ll blog about that later, though. Bye!
We love blog comments but if for some reason you want to say something to us more directly, please email us — mikeandmichelertw at hotmail dot com (appropriate punctuation changes will be required of course).
Tags: Category #21: Laos
Michele Harmon
Michele, sorry to hear you had been ill. Wonder if it was the same sickness that had plagued your boat companion back in Thailand (I think that was Thailand). Hope Mike isn’t next in line.
Happy New Year to you both and take care.
I’m so sorry Mike. Happy BELATED birthday. And Happy New Year to you both!! Not a great way to bring in 2006 Michele. I don’t know how you decided to pick the places you’ve seen but they are incredible. When will you be back to the U.S.?? Do you keep up with the world news? 🙂 Aren’t you just craving to run an ultra and eat some Cheetos and stale pretzels? A trip to Jalisco’s? Check out the Washington Post today. Or is it tomorrow there? Cheers.
Very sad story in the Post today:
Falling Rocks Kill 3 on Mount Kilimanjaro
By SUKHDEV CHHATBAR
The Associated Press
Thursday, January 5, 2006; 8:58 AM
MOUNT KILIMANJARO NATIONAL PARK, Tanzania — Rocks and boulders tumbled down Mount Kilimanjaro and crashed into tents where tourists were sleeping, killing three American climbers and seriously injuring two, officials said Thursday.
(I didn’t copy the entire article).
Thanx much, i am just geting online to study for if and how i may get to asia to retire in 2020, i have several new e pals in thailand to conect with wen i can aford to go. i work as custodian at arizona state university so $ is tight. i shall study thes cool bloogs more. and dream. i peddle a tandem to-fro work 2o mile s daily. ? do yu see and forign bicycle tourists? retires in quite villages?if any one else reads send me a msg plese………
Hi guys, well I finally got around to reading your blog since coming back from Egypt. I’m finding it bittersweet though. I’m happy for you that you are seeing all of these great places and continue to have such interesting experinces but I wish I was still travelling. I remember how much work it was for you guys to update this but keep it up if you can. I’m sure everyone is enjoying it as much as I am.