Lazing in Laos

We flew into Luang Prabang and headed to our pre-booked room. As it's South-East Asia it wasn't pre-booked at all, our room had been given away and the man on reception laughed as we trudged off into the dark with our 40kg of luggage to find an alternative ... we didn't laugh!
After this slightly stuttered start we found good accommodation and fell in love with this French colonial style UNESCO heritage town. We explored by bicycle, complete with baskets, a jivemobile you wouldn't be seen dead on anywhere else but it's the thing to do and all that's available. A town so laid back you can't fail to relax here. There is a wat (temple) on every street and corner and therefore monks in orange robes everywhere. The people are lovely, freindly and welcoming and the town is full of fantastic restaurants, cafes, bistros, art galleries and nick nack shops in a dark hardwood French colonial style complete with shutters.
On our 2nd day we spent the morning negotiating a price to the Kuang Si waterfall, 45 minutes out of town. After much haggling this was settled and we were off. Not expecting much as we have seen many waterfalls on our travels we were pleasantly wowed and surprised by clear aquamarine pools and bubbling waterfalls in a peaceful forest setting.

We swam in the pool, so freezing that the only way I knew I would be able to enter the water was extremely quickly and all or nothing. If I'd even dared to dip a toe in there is no way I would have got in! So I braved the rope swing (reached by a precarious branch and having to hang off to reach the rope in the first place!) and fell, not very elegantly, into the cold waters which immediately turned my skin red, my lips blue and made me gasp for breath! John declined the rope awing as he felt it would have been like a hippopotamus climbing a twig! He was far more nimble 10 years ago when we did this in Australia!

They even had some rescued bears at the entrance to watch while we warmed up in the sun.
The next day we decided to go and experience the rural life, so we travelled north  for 3 hours by minivan to a small village by the Nam Ou river callend Nong Khiaw.

Nam Ou River at Nong Khiaw

We found a bamboo bungalow on stilts to stay in across the bridge. Pure luxury we thought as this hut had electricity and a hot shower! We then realised what the Laos PDR (Aka. please don't rush!) is all about. We spent the rest of the day trying to book a trip for the next day. We only wanted to give them a job and some money and it seemed like the hardest thing in the world! After our 3rd visit to the tour office in the baking heat we eventually managed to book a half day trip on the river to go tubing. All the villages in this mountainous region rely heavily on the river. Some villages can only be reached by boat as there are no roads and boats are used to import and export goods as well as fishing in the river for their livelihoods. Unfortunately being a very poor country the government is corrupt. The Chinese have been given free reign to rape the jungles for wood and there are plans to dam the river to provide electricity for China. In return they build roads and bridges and kindly relocate villages! Well, certain villages immediately effected but goodness knows what will happen to the hundreds of smaller villages in the surrounding hills.

After a slight mix up the boat picked us up and we speedily headed up the river with two French girls in a small boat. After lunch on a sandbar the guide taught the girls to fish with a small net while we jumped into our tubes and into the river to begin our 2 hour down river adventure back to the bridge where we began. Again the water was freezing but luckily the sun was out to keep us warm. We were the only two people tubing on this river much to the locals amusement. Most travellers tube in the touristy Vang Vieng but this wasn't for us. This was a true lazy river and we relaxed back and admired the scenery and wildlife.
We shared the river with local fishermen, bathing water buffalo, snakes, water geckos and many unseen fish.

The water buffalo

Lazing on the river

Now and again we hit small rapids which sped our process up, passing banks and sandbars which wild boar and their tiny offspring lived on. We floated as close as we could but the territorial wild boar faced us in a Mexican stand off, so we kept our distance and floated past. The guide on the boat passed us now and again as did other river traffic and after an hour and a half I was so cold I had to admit defeat and get out but John made it back to the bridge where we began.

You can just see John heading towards the bridge

We found a local restaurant to eat in with cheap and tasty food. We also visited some nearby caves that the locals hid in during the second Indochina war on our rather fetching bikes.

The keepers of the cave

After 2 days it was time to head back to Luang Prabang as much as we would have liked to have stayed. This probably sounds easy but don't forget we were in the middle of nowhere in South-East Asia so I'll let John describe the journey back!