Rain Rain Go Away

Luang Prabang

We only ended up staying in Luang Prabang for two full days as the rain would not let up. The town is pretty cool though, as each street is lined with places to eat, visit, and drink some Beer Lao. It is said to be the best beer in all of South East Asia, and I would have to agree. At 10,000 kip (roughly 50 cents) for a large bottle, it is hard to go wrong. There were some waterfalls to see outside of the city, but to be honest, it was just too damn cold. Now I know all of you at home are in the dead of Winter, but when you have been in the hot sun for 31 days, a rainy cool day can feel like Winter (especially when you didn't pack any warm clothes). However, we did see some nice things in Luang Prabang, and it was nice to not take any day trips for once.

Day One

We saw a really neat temple with an amazing Tree of Life mosaic. It seems that temples in Lao are much different then the temples in Thailand. That being said, when you walk into one, they also have a different type of feel and energy. Temples in Thailand are much more grandiose, whereas temples in Laos are simple and less ornate. Correne felt that the temples in Laos were much more spiritual because they are less distracting.

That night we had an authentic Laos dinner, and I must say, it was probably one of the best meals I have had so far. Mmmm...spicy. Correne says her lips are still burning.

Day Two

We went to the museum in the Grand Palace, and this museum was really neat. It contained a lot of Laos history including a tablet with the first Laos scripture. This was also the home of the King and Queen up until 1975. The building itself had a strange feel. The structure was quite old, but with each new King came renovations. It was a mixture of very old and very new in one building. It's too bad that we couldn't get pictures because some of the mosaic walls were breathtaking (they didn't allow photography in the palace).

After that we went up the over 300 steps to a temple on the hill. The temple itself was nothing spectacular, but the view was worth the climb. It wasn't until that moment that we realized just how big Luang Prabang really is. We tended to stick to the tourist areas, so it was really cool to see the residential side of the city.

Later that night we hit the night market and had a great dinner. The market proved to be quite different than any Thai market we've seen so far. The art was different, the selection was different, and the bartering was different. Since we saw some stuff we haven't seen before, we decided to pick up a few things for Xmas. It was later that night we decided that this would be our last night in Luang Prabang. In the morning we would get up early, and board the overpriced bus to Vang Vieng. Good thing, because that morning it was still raining, and still freezing cold.

Vang Vieng

I know that Correne wrote before about her, shall we say, upset stomach on the bus from Pai to Chiang Mai. Well, this bus ride made that trip look like a walk in the park. On this six hour ride, you could not drive for more than five seconds without taking a hairpin turn in either direction. To put it in perspective. Vang Vieng is only 160 Km's from Luang Prabang, but it still takes six hours. We were only an hour in to the ride when things got ugly...I promised Correne I wouldn't go into too many details, but lets just say it was not pretty.

Day One

We arrived around two in the afternoon, and found ourselves a really clean guesthouse at the cheapest price yet. Correne took a three hour (much needed) nap, while I explored the city. For some reason every restaurant has a T.V., and they all seem to be playing back to back Friends episodes all day and night. We have heard that theme song about 50 times already. We took the rest of the night easy, and waited to do anything adventurous the next day.

Day Two

There are several caves on the outskirts of town, and one was only one km away, so we walked there thu really nice countryside. The caves were amazing, and the view inside and out was really something. For some reason, we were the only people in the cave, and the silence when we both were quiet was erie. It seemed the cave began to pulse in your ear it was so quiet. Tomorrow we will rent bikes, and check out the caves that were a little farther out of town.

That's it for now. We are going to get a couple of fruit shakes, and watch some Friends episodes...hey, why not?

Lates

Paul