Day 78 - 04/02/2016
Dien Bien Phu and Tuan Gyao
Next morning we jumped into half empty bus direction to the Unesco-protected city of Luang Prabang. Long strenuos journey through mountain area. Somewhere 2/3 of a way sudden explosion just below Roman interrupted the contemplation of the beautiful landscape around.
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| Descending to the cloud altitude |
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| Lush forests |
It wasn’t coming out of Roman’s bottom as usual :) On of the rear tyres gone flat. The driver kept driving for 10 more minutes through steep hilly curves until finally stopped and judged the case as not that critical ...
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| Bang ! |
The next 20 km of 1000 m downhill drop were scary and going slowly we found a garage who could repair it.
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| 10 000 KIP to the person who guesses contents of the bag :) |
Luang Prabang is situated in a peninsula where Nam Khan river meets Mekong. French colonial buildings mixed with ancient Laotian wooden houses, austere white monasteries and coloured-glass temples give to the city a special charm.
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| Nam Khan flows into Mekong |
The city has to be one of the most expensive in South East Asia (Except Singapore and Hong Kong).
But surprisingly it took us just 30 minutes of walking in right direction (thanks to the tip of a friend we met in Vang Vieng and earlier in Myanmar) and we found Moukdavan GH, which unexpectedly charged only 50.000 kips per room – the cheapest we had until now ! Yes it was not the boutique accommodation, but friendly family style drinking Lao Laao (Sticky rice whiskey) every night with friends.
Knowing how crowded LP is, we organised our 3 days-stay differently. Most of all we wanted to spend Roman's 33rd Birthday in the nature. So what would give us more freedom than a motorbike ride through villages and jungle on challenging roads :) ?
We chose Chompet district (Xiang Men village) across Mekong river as our first day destination.
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| Crossing mekong on local ferry |
Beginning as usual with the moto “Left around the chorten”, we first visited Ban Chan and for the first time we got our hands dirty with pottery wheel! The result was surprisingly acceptable !
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| Be gentle on that mud |
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| Doesn't look right |
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| But don't give up ! |
Clay was not only used to do pottery but also clay bricks . The villagers were producing it in a, one could call , quite “standardised way” =)
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| This machine could be called "brick shitter" |
Cca 36 km through bucolic landscape, felt a world away from white face infested town side – rice paddies, teak forests, quiet villages, under constructed monasteries and dirt rain washed and cratered roads made our day.
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| Our gypsy style lunch spot |
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| Porco e familia |
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| No bridge, no problem |
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| Beginning of silk thread |
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| No road, no problem |
Back in LP we had a quick stop in
Ock Pop Tock, the crafts centre where dozens of weavers from nearby villages show their expertise and produce beautiful cotton and silk shawls. The coffee terrace gave us the best spot for birthday toast of lovely Laos coffee accompanied with the best sunset view over Mekong river’s beach !
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| Weavers in Ock Pop Tock center |
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| Mekong beach |
Next day we went on the road direction to
Kouang Si Waterfall.
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| Kouang Si waterfall |
As usual Roman’s adventurous sense took us to small detour through villages, jungle and little Dam on the way.
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| Where is a dam, there will be a road one day |
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| Little dam powers few villages around |
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| Little village girl in her home |
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| No school today, no problem |
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| Road becoming a path |
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| Path becoming jungle trail, no problem |
We got to Kouang Si too late to explore the forest and the cave, but we still climbed until the top and experienced the powerful 60 m of tumbling water through limestone formations.
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| On the top of the waterfall |
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| Off the beaten bridge |
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| We'll get wet !!! |
Just before dusk we had some fun in the turquoise pools ! =)
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| How small we are ... |
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| So let's enjoy it ! |
In our 3rd day, we got off the bike and finally ventured to explore the city on foot. One can cover all of the main sites on foot in a day with few stops for coffee or beer easily. If you like white face crowd stay there longer.
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| Luang Prabang has loads of temples |
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| Sangha community is thriving in Luang Prabang |
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| Football pitch on sacred grounds |
To say goodbye to LP after long day of walking, deserving a beer Lao while watching sunset, we ended up again on the best, non touristic spot of LP - Mekong’s river beach.
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| Heading to the beach |
Locals enjoy the cooler time of the day playing football, picnicking, fishing or riverbathing ... We followed locals :)
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| Falang |
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| Local |
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