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  • Day 48

    Luang Prabang & journey to Chiang Mai

    December 21, 2015 in Laos ⋅ ☀️ 9 °C

    20th Dec

    So after another not so confortable nights sleep i arrived in Luang Prabang around 7.30am. This time i booked a night in a hostel before arriving as its getting so close to xmas i dont want to be stranded. I got in a tuk tuk with 7 or 8 other people and headed for the centre. Luang Prabang is really beautiful. There are small streets everywhere with trees overgrowing into them. Its like the city was build into the jungle. There are to rivers that run through the city, the Mekong and .... I would be taking the slow boat to thailand via the Mekong. When i arrived at my hostel i dropped off my bags and headed out to get breakfast. I found a local resturant that was serving noodle soup so i sat by the river and ate, followed by an iced coffee! I carried on walking and found a temple with alot pf people queing to get in. Across the road there were some steps leading up a hill so i walked up them. It was called.....There was a temple right at the top and the views of the city were really breathtaking. There was a woman selling insence and tiny little bamboo cages which each contained 2 birds. I bought one and set them free. The woman said it was good luck but i just felt bad for the birds. On the way back down there were lots of gold buddha statues and a cave where you could go to pray. There was also a sectioned off area with a huge footprint imprinted in concrete, believed to be the footprint of buddha. After walking around for a while i decided to go and chill out in the hostel. I had a while 9 bed dorm to myself for the time being so that was nice.
    Later i went back out again to see what the evening bought to the city. I walked along the mekong and came across some steps down to a small beach. Yet another amazing sunset from Laos!
    Next i found the night markets. They were huge i couldnt find my way out. There were lots of soureniers to buy, mostly with embroyded elephants. To be honest, i was more interested in where the food was! There was so much choice, fresh and fried spring rolls, different noodles, fried rice, kebabs and other barbiqued meat, and all for 10,000 kip (about 60p). I sat and ate spicy fried rice with some locals who looked like theyd just rocked up from east london. They were really sweet and offered to share their food. After eating i headed back to the hostel, id booked my boat ticket for the following day so it was a 6am start!

    21st Dec

    The tuk tuk driver picked me up in the morning along with 3 other groups and we headed for the docks. I met an american family who had been travelling for 3 months with no plans to return. They were really sweet and offered me to join the for xmas. They were getting the speed boat to thailand which only takes around 4 hours, alot quicker than my 3 day trip on the slow boat. So far it has been worth it though. The scenary is unreal and its nice to just relax and take it all in. We passed elephants, buffalo and children bathing in the river. The mountain views reminded me of something out of jurrasic park. The river is surrounded by jungle then every so often youd come across a small village up high in the mountains. There werent too many in the boat which was nice, you had 2 seats to yourself. Id read that if you travel the other way, from Thailand to Laos it was crammed with people, to the point where they pile plastic chairs where ever they could. So im glad im going this route 😀
    I started to write up my blog when a little face peeped over the chair. His dad was asleep and he was getting bored to we played around with the ipad then i gave him some paper and pencils to do some drawing. He was too shy though and would draw while i was watching!
    9 hours later we arrived at our first stop, a small village in the north of Laos, Oudomxay. You get off the boat and have to climb up the steep bank which is laced with jagged rocks. I kept thinking i was going to roll down backwards with my backpack! Once you get to the top theres another hill to climb, the village is catered for tourists with shops and resturants along the road. There are some nice little cafes selling sandwiches which i will be picking up tomorrow morning for the journey!
    I found a cheap guesthouse, got showered and headed back out for dinner. Noodle soup again! Im going to really miss the stuff when i leave. After i found a little stall selling minature fried eggs (i think they were duck eggs but when i asked the lady what bird they were from she just flapped her arms like she was trying to fly). What ever they were they were delicious! I then found a bar called happy bar which looked over the river, i sat and had a beer laos and waited for the stars to come out befire heading back to my room. Im sad to be leaving Laos, i didnt expect to enjoy the country as much as i have done. Its been nice to spend some time alone in a country that is so untouched and really reflect and relax. I hope that it doesnt change anytime soon but i feel that tourism is slowly creeping in.
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