Hello strangers, Luang Prabang calling!

Our journey from Thailand to Laos was… interesting… and mainly comprised of two extremely long slow-boat journeys, accompanied by two bodybuilders that we met in Pai (don’t worry, they are harmless, very shy, and provide good entertainment as well as a complementary luggage service and general protection – result!) the first of which was spent on top of everyone’s backpacks in the engine room (pics to follow) as there was no space left in the main cabin (!?). We were originally told that there was no more space on the boat but some very enthusiastic, if rather annoying, Canadians convinced us that the engine room was free and we made some quite good loungers and snuggle holes from the piles of bags.
The main problem was that the engine was unbelievably loud and hot, which did make the first five or so hours a bit mental, however, towards the end of the journey, our ‘seats’ turned out to be the best in the house as everyone in the main cabin was freezing while we were roasty-toasty in the back!!!

The second leg of the journey was a lot longer but much more beautiful as we chased the sun down the Mekong. As the rain lifted we saw beautiful jungle, with sheer cliff edges, and local fishermen who were happy to wave. Sitting out of one of the doors, we could dip our feet in and splash each other as the boat moved, very fun!!!

We arrived in Luang Prabang to rain again and were extremely unprepared and very unsure of what to expect. After a failed attempt at finding a hostel, which turned out to be a temple, (!?) who wouldn’t let us in, we found a restaurant that had wifi, and subsequently ordered a carbonara (when in Rome…). While eating, we saw some girls that we met on the boat – one of whom is originally from Cambridge – and they had already found a decent budget room. We tagged along after the meal and were delighted to find cheap accommodation (separate doubles) with power showers!!!!!! After almost thee weeks of cold, dribbly faucets (and, in extreme circumstances, bum guns) we could not believe our luck, and have been showering twice a day ever since!

As we had prepared no research on Luang Prabang, we were unaware that it is in fact a UNESCO World Heritage site, and is, subsequently, really very beautiful, with a lot of practicing monks who you can feed at 5:15am (we will never get up that early, not even to feed a monk), and there is also a fantastic night market that opens every evening and is choc-ful of present ideas (don’t get too excited). Being a heritage site, there is an 11:30 curfew in the town, which we had no idea about (Ellen: I was most displeased to be asked to leave my gin and tonic unfinished as the bar was closing!) so, having been tipped off that a bowling alley just outside of town (Ellen: my favourite!) was the place to be after that time, we rounded some troops and headed there to find… bowling, obviously, but also a bar consisting of only Laos whiskey and bottles of Pepsi and 7up to mix, which fuelled a very funny if very weird evening!!

Heading out for a more sophisticated dinner tonight, hope all is well back home! (Sophia: and in France!)

S&E