Jungle Boogy to Luang Prabang
Saturday, January 10, 2009
EDITED: 11.01.2009 - All photos uploaded now (follow the links on the right) Also we are both feeling better now. Just a case of bad street food :)
Greetings from Luang Prabang!
Micki is feeling a little under the weather today so I have been once again placed in charge of keeping you up to date with our adventures.
The day after you last heard from us we went on a two day trek. We thought it would be a nice leisurely stroll around some rice fields and a little light walking in the woods... boy were we wrong! Laos is all hills and nothing but and the jungle is very dense. Also there is not very much regard for safety here so for me at least, it was pretty much like being back in the army. The inclines were very steep (up and down), the paths were very slippery and the inclines were very long. The total treking was about 15km a day and our guide did it in flip flops, while smoking marlboro red and without breaking a sweat :D. After about 5 painful hours the first day we arrived at a village near a river. We were welcomed by very curious people and children shouting "falang! falang!", which is Lao for foreigner.
We began by bathing in the river with the locals and after that we had some time to explore and enjoy a cold beer lao. We sat around a fire and spoke to our guide who explained about the villagers daily lives among other things. Soon we were joined by some curious children and other villagers, 2 of which got to enjoy their first encounter with a portable music player. The look on their faces was priceless (Micki should have a photo of it). The best part of is was that the song they got to listen to was none other than a very nice track about rain by a band called Slayer :D
We had dinner with our hosts and guide, lao style on the floor, and were later joined by the village chieftain for beer lao and lao lao (rice whisky). The night was spent on something that could very losely be termed a mattress ... very very very losely. The next day was another 15km up and down to Luang Namtha.
The next day we took a public bus to Luang Prabang, which also was quite an experience. Right next to us in the aisle of the bus was among other things a motorcycle and some very large sacks of rice... very unorthodox but it did draw a lot of laughs and jokes from us foreigners.
As I previously mentioned, we are now in Luang Prabang, which is an amazing place. French colonial style houses right next to the Mekong has made this a Unesco World Heritage Site and quite rightly so. We have spent the last couple of days relaxing, reading books and drinking Lao coffee (which is really good!). 
On the 8th we took a private boat down the river to the Kuang Xi waterfalls. The waterfalls are spectacular and the cool blue water is great for swimming although it was a bit chilly (even by Finish standards). In the afternoon we stopped ona small sandbank in the middle of the Mekong and enjoyed the spectacular sunset.
Our next move? On the 12th we take a bus to Vang Vien (Home of tubing!)
Take care now, bye bye then
Robbe and Micki
Posted byRobbe at 08:34
Wonderful reading and inparticular great to knowthat you bot feel well again. Please make sure that you at all times have plenty of "koltabletter" at hand!
Dr Mamma
Att läsa om er resa, piggar upp dagen här i grått och vått :)
Megafint vattenfall - ni har nog upplevt fantastiska vyer och platser. är nog lite avundsjuk :)
Ha det superbra!
kramar Heidi
Tack igen för fina rapporter och foton från er resa. Ni ser nog ut att få full valuta för pengarna. Ansku är ju för tillfället i Thailand och njuter av samma ställen ni var på för en månad sedan. Inte att man inte skulle bli lite "sotis" på er resande...:o). Skulle nog gärna ha kastat mig i vattnet i Luang Prabang...:o), i stället för att sitta här i 0-grader halvslaskigt vintermörker.
Skönt att ni blivit friska. Lite "magafiro", hör ju tyvärr till resepaketet i dom där trakterna.
Kram! Pappa Jankka