Our Next Adventure in Luang Prabang

In Luang Prabang, there are 2 main attractions, firstly the Waterfall, which you have seen, and the Cave's. There are these caves on the other side of the river, about 14 km away from the main town. They are temples that have been there for hundreds of years, still visited by many buddhists, and also us tourists. The tuk tuk took us to a small village perched on the bank of the river, and a small longboat took us across for 1 dollar, everything seems to be a dollar.
When we arrived there were steps going up to the top caves, which we started with, boy it was hot, and there were 359 steps, or something like that. Nearly killed me, but was wworth the climb. Outside the cave sat 3 women trying to rent torches, so you could see the cave properly. And you definately needed one, so we got one each. The caves are all filled with statues of Buddha, either lying down, laughing, etc. Each posture means something, and each statue was placed there as a gift to Buddha, from his followers. There are hundreds in each cave. You can see some, but the camera isn't working too well in the pitch black, so couldn't get them all.

Some more photos, after the Waterfall

So leaving the waterfall, the 4 of us headed back, through the paddy fields, and Buffalow, back to Luang Prabang, ready for our next adventure. That night we headed to the infamous night market. There you could buy pretty much anything, from clothes to silver for no more than a dollar. We could've gone totally mad spending 10 dollars each, but left before we spent 5 dollars, and ended up with a silver bracelet, 2 T-shirts, some trousers and some shorts, unbelievable.
Shoppers, you need to head to Laos.
The Photo with Amy in front of a shrub, is actually Bamboo, about 100 feet in the air with another drop of around 50 ft behind her, so 150ft Bamboo, there you go Dad, thats how big Bamboo grows, if your lucky.

Finally The Actual Waterfall

We had a good day, got a bit bruised, and very tired after swimming in the waterfall, so went back through the villages to Luang Prabang for a massage!

Waterfall, more of

More!

More Waterfall pics

Somw phots as we walked up toward the waterfall, a little trigger happy, but the scenery was breathtaking, had to show you!

The Waterfall, oohh how much fun!!!

So we arrive at the waterfall, not really knowing what to expect, so headed up the hill, into the jungle along a path. And the first thing we saw, which shocked us initially was a load of Black Asian Bears. Unfortunately, or fortunately, depends on your view, they were enclosed. But on a plaque was written the reason for there capture. It was a story of poachers, catching and killing the parents of the bears, so the people in Luang Prabang helped by keeping them safe, and fed, until somewhere could be designated. It seemed to be the safest option for the bears anyhow. Also to our amazment a Tiger lived just round the corner, had its own part of the jungle, although enclosed too, but we had the chance to feed it. As I put the stick with the meat on, up high above my head, the tiger stood and stretched right up as high as me or taller even, and gulped down the meat with a low growl as if to say thankyou! Amy fed the tiger then we left it to sleep. We hadn't even seen the waterfall yet and headed up.
Wow, what a sight, the first thing we saw that was blue was like a swimming lake, at the bottom of the waterfalls runoffs. THere was even a big tree with a Tarzan vine to swing on into the water. Very cool, we all played like we were 12 years old, until we got fed up. On the way up to see the actual waterfall, you pass loads of babbling brooks, and some real old massive tree's and Bamboo 75 metres in the air. Was a real "wild" experience.
Eventually we reach the top, Adam, Ian, Amy and I, and notice that the place the water actually fell, was an ideal place for swimming, looked very refreshing. There were signs not to swim, but the temptation was too great and within minutes of getting there, we were all in trying to swim under the falling water. Harder than you think, as the current made by the waterfall meant we had to swim as hard as we could just to get to the water. Was tottally worth it though, and Ian swam back to grab his camera to take a photo under the fall. He had his camera in a water tight housing, swimming directly toward me as hard as he could and swang the camera pack onto my skull cracking the housing open and losing his camera in the depths of the pool. Savage.

Luang Prabang! Whoo Hoo, finally arrived.

Well, Luang Prabang. Once collonised by the French, Laos has an abundance of French influence, in the architecture, the whole Cafe' scene, even language, and no more so than Luang Prabang. France in the Jungle basically. With the contrast of Asia with all the Temple's and of course asians. We got there and managed to get a cheap deal on a room as there were 12 of us, this seemed to work out quite nicely for most of us, although it is hard to keep track of 12 people, and eventually we broke apart for a while to go and see Luang Prabang.
Not a huge city, but a nice calm quiet, "readers" city. We had no books with us so went on some adventures instead.
The day after we arrived we booked a Tuk Tuk to take us to a waterfall we had heard about, can't remember the name, but we headed about 40 mins away bouncing around in the back of this truck tuk thing. On the way passed loads of amazing views, and trying to photgraph in the back of a moving vehicle isn't easy so won't be sharing too many of the views with you, but a few. We passed a lone Elephant with a saddle on him, and a sign reding "Elephant Services", we found it quite amusing. And almost stopped to hire him to finish the ironing for us.
As we drove the valleys and the mountains opened up to show us the vast greenness, if such a word, Paddy fields everywhere, glowing the most vibrant colours. It was exactly like you'd expect the hills of Southeast Asia to look like. Breath taking.

Slow Boat Photos 3, - Pakk Beng too,

Pakk Beng, like I said was interesting to say the least. Well we all stayed in a guest house right on the Mekong River. Was a real treat, hehe, the rooms were like prison cells, the food was locally caught, (from the gutter), and the beer was cheaper than water. But hey we made the most of the situation, and ended up with some cool photos. I recommend the slow boat to Laos. Not sure who else would agree with us though.

Slow Boat Photo's 2 - Pakk Beng

Here are a few photos, Alex, Ian, Jackie and Adam, and of course the gorgeous Asling... The views on the boat were awsome, but the same nearly all the way, Jungle and river. Massive amount of free space and fantastic clean air. All along the river you could see Water Buffalow wallowing too, was way cool.

Slow Boat to Laos

So from there it was onto the slow boat, a luxury ocean liner (!) for a two day river trip to Luang Prebang. We managed to grab the back seats, right next to the lady who sold the beer of course and proceeded to sample the lovely Beer Laos for the next 6 hours. Apparently Carlsberg Beer Co. came to take over Beer Laos but they found it so good that they couldn't modify it! We agree. The slow boat was crammed full of travellers, with no spare space and the only seats wooden benches or straw mats on the floor. No windows (luckily it didn't rain), a makeshift toilet and a rooster tied up at the back, obviously for the captains dinner. Luckily the Beer Laos and valium softened the journey. So as there is not much more else to say about this part of the journey, apart from Pakk Beng. A place where they only see people who are getting the slowboat, Pakk Beng is purpose built for the 2 day boat trippers to be hassled constantly to buy illegal produce, of any kind. Dirty seedy, horrible town, some great views though. Being offered Speed at the dinner table after ordering "Meat Noodles", probably dog apparantley. Real nice place, Not!
Had a laugh though, and was glad to join the boaet again the following day.