Our next day in amazing Luang Prabang we walked through town in the morning to the boat pier. Got on a long boat to the Pak Ou Buddha caves and Whisky Village. The boat journey along the Mekong was lovely in the sunshine watching locals on the river banks. Stopped at a small village where they make rice whisky and the locals gave us free shots of horrible smelling, quite nice tasting red 'whisky'. Some of us bought some bottles to take home. As we were walking down the bamboo bridge across the muddy banks to the boat, a group of boys from the village aged from about 3 to 8 ran after us, stripped off all their clothes and wangled their willies at us as we motored off down the river... Arrived at the caves that were like grottos in the cliff face, filled with damaged and discarded Buddha statues ranging in size from a centimetre to metres high, all staring out to the river. Strange sight.. At new year the locals come to the caves and bathe with the Buddhas in the river. Climbed a ridiculous number of stairs to the upper cave. On the way up we were approached by children holding tiny straw cages with little birds hopping about inside. We think they were trying to sell them to us but we would have only freed them, and we weren't sure if that was what we were supposed to do, or if it would be disrespectful.. At the top of the steps, being tight-arse travelers on tight budgets, we decided to brave the cave without renting a torch from outside and instead to hope our eyes would adjust to the dark. This cave was much bigger, could see the walls of the main room again filled with Buddha statues and strange ribbons and incense.. Saw the path that we thought led to the rest of the cave at the back of the room. Tried to find our way through with our pathetic iPhone torches.. Eventually gave in and stomped back to the entrance to get a torch. All the way back in, shined the torch down the path, cave wall, DEAD BLOODY END. Wasted money on stupid torch to explore the rest of the cave that didn't exist. Decided to make the most of the money we'd spent on the torch and shone it on every statue, every corner and every strange ribbony thing we could find. In the darkest corner I found a piece of paper on the floor, picked it up to see the other side was covered in photos of a little girl dying in hospital. All a bit spooked we made our way out..
In the evening we went to watch the sun set over the Mekong. Sat on a bamboo platform set out on stilts over the river bank and watched locals bathing in the water as the sun went down over the mountains. For dinner we went to a gorgeous Lao restaurant set in a garden with fairy lights in the trees and lanterns and candles and little log fires to sit around. So armospheric and magical, with fab music playing too. Had a selection of delicious Lao food that we all shared between us- stir fried green beans and beef in oyster sauce, green curry, Saikok Lao sausage with potato salad, and sweet and sour chicken. Em and I teamed up and played pool with two Lao guys. Managed a few flukey drunken good shots and ended up winning with ME potting the black... In Lao any workplace has a curfew of 12pm, so all bars have to shut at 11 in time for their staff to get home. We'd heard about a strange bowling alley on the outskirts of town that manages to stay open until 3 as it's not in central town, so we made our way there by touk touk. Found an odd little place full of drunken tourists, where we had lots of hysterical laughs playing a few games. I insisted on being on Bens team and didn't hit a single pin down all night, even though i'd adopted the two handed, bend over and swing between the legs throw.. Looking like a total plank..
The day after I was up early and couldn't make the other lazy arses get up so went out for the day by myself. Had a lovely time exploring town, waking along all the rivers and down the tiny alleyways past peoples homes. Took lots of photos and saw so many funny, interesting sights. Looked around Xiang Thong Temple, which was SO beautiful, with colourful, shining mosaics of elephants and monsters and jungles all over the outer walls. Was taking a photo of a pretty street as a group of men rushed out of a building carrying something, as they got closer I saw that it was an old man who must have collapsed and died...
Up at 5:30am the next morning to watch the monks Alms giving through the main street of Luang Prabang. Was a cool sight to see so many monks in their orange robes, walking silently in long lines, collecting offerings and foods. Browsed the early morning food market which was fab, full of interesting sights and smells. For the day Ben, Will, Em and me went back to Kuang Si Waterfall. On the wall in our hostel was stuck a map of how to find a secret swimming area, so we decided to try to find it. Couldn't really understand the map, but instead came across an old path cut into the side of a steep bank that was blocked off by a fallen tree and a big sign saying 'DANGER NO ENTRY'... We climbed under, didn't look very dangerous, just a bit wet and slippery with not much to hold onto to climb along the side of the bank. We made it across to where the path seemed to reform again. Climbed down a ladder, over a few rocks and gross spiders webs. Came through an opening in the trees to the most AMAZING waterfalls, one huge tall one, with smaller ones below it and little pools and huge rocks and plants and everything just so gorgeous. Wrapped our cameras in bags and swam across to a big rock in the middle. We were careful not to go in the direction the water was flowing- right off the edge of the next huge 50ft waterfall to the pools below where the rest of the people were swimming. Everything looked so magical and we had such an amazing time in the sun at our own secret waterfalls. Swam under the main fall and leant against the rock in the water on a ledge underneath, looking out through the water falling infront of our faces. Was a cave under there but it was too small to explore.. Such a perfect place. Felt so pleased with ourselves as we made our way back through the other pools and people at the end of the day. Most amazing end to the most amazing place.
Tuesday 2 March 2010
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