Leaving Luang Prabang

Beautiful place

Like we'd been warned by fellow travellers going the opposite direction, Luang Prabang is a difficult place to leave. And not only due to its geographical position, nestled deep in the jungle next to the Mekong river.

With French colonial architecture, fusion Lao cuisine and overwhelmingly accommodating locals, it's a traveller's paradise. So people tend to stay.


Young Monks

Despite choosing rather cheap accommodation (about $12 a night) we've had some of our most pleasant days on the trip, so far. It seems high prices don't always guarantee a good place. The fellow travellers have, without exception, been interesting, relaxed and open minded, including several of which we seem to serendipitously bump into wherever we go, and have struck up nice friendships with.


Calm before the rapids

On reflection Luang Prabang doesn't seem to have any one big reason for why it's such a lovely place. But rather it has a number of smaller reasons that, combined, make it an ideal pit stop for resting weary bones, eat some decent food and, in our case, to do a spot of laundry.


Smooth as silk

The surrounding hills have scattered Buddhist monasteries, the alleyways are lined with endless guest houses and the streets transform into cheap excellent crafts markets at night. The architecture, the culture and the ancient history (it was founded more than a millennium ago) etc, even helped make it a much touted UNESCO World Heritage Site.


Going upstream

To draw us away from the temptation of non stop porking out at a cafe, we took our first ever white water kayak trip down a nearby river. With former monk 'Puma' as our guide (first time we've ever met someone called 'Puma', who isn't a gladiator on a TV reality show) we precariously negotiated our way down 4 hours of sporadic rapids on the 'Nam Ou'.

According to 'Puma' it ranks as a class 2 river (out of 6, 6 being the most difficult) on the international Scale of River Difficulty. In wet season it's upgraded to a class 3, due to the extra turbulence of the additional water. But at this time of year it was quite manageable.

As we made our way down river we saw local Lao on the river banks, some fishing, or panning for Gold, while others were just having their daily dip. Every now and then we saw giant red dots painted on the rocks on the river, each one, apparently, signaling a local death from Malaria. Oops. But unlike the poor locals we have the benefit of anti-Malaria medication, so we're safe.


Young fishermen

A moment that was scarier than both the big red death warnings and the unpredictable white water was when we pulled our kayaks over for lunch at a local village, and a man with a bomb appeared. Yes, basically, a local bus pulled over and a farmer dude in a dark blue Mao costume stepped out, carrying an unexploded bomb (locally referred to as UXO's or Unexploded Ordinances).

Completely unconcerned about the fact that he was potentially about to be blown into a million little pieces, he loudly dinked it down on the side of the road, to come hang out with us, while we ate.


Mind that lower back now, so you don't risk getting hurt

After staring at Mr Mao's pet nuke for long enough to make fairly sure it hadn't started hissing or ticking or something, we went up and had a closer look, including taking some photos of it with its proud owner.


Our man and his UXO

If we'd have more time to spend in Laos, then perhaps we'd realize what a common occurrence this is. In a country completely obliterated by America during the Vietnam war, sourcing scrap metal in the forest has been a huge source of income for many. In fact, between 1971 and 1973, the US dropped more than 2 million tonnes of bombs on Laos, more than the total amount of bombs dropped in during the entire second world war. That equals something like 500 kilos of explosives per person in the country. Nice one. Glad it worked out so well, too.

Laos is a beautiful country and it's clear to see why so many people have told us that it's, by far, their favourite country in Asia. It's easy to travel in and has arguably more genuine charm than any of the countries we've been to so far. Its only real downfall has been that it's too nice. The people are so utterly concerned with avoiding conflict of any sort, at any cost, that they simply smile and agree with everything, even if that means totally ignoring your question. Example:

'Is the bus station over there or over here?'

'Yes...'

Today we were going to leave Luang Prabang to fly out to Cambodia, and Siem Reap, saving us at least three and a half days of spine numbing bus rides on not so great roads.

But as destiny would have it, a sudden rain front overwhelmed the local airport and our safety conscious carrier, Vietnam Airlines, chose not to fly.


Flight chaos

And so it seems we're stuck in Luang Prabang for yet another night. Guess we should be grateful that this happened in a town we don't mind being stuck in.


Luang Prabang at Sunset