Wat Xieng Thong
So this morning I woke fairly early for me which for the rest of Laos isn’t actually that early, you know, it never ceases to amaze me how early the rest of the world tends to get up either when working or travelling!
Anyway up and out and off to the centre of town and the next guesthouse. The guesthouse I’ve chosen for the next two nights seems really nice and at a good price for the centre of town. The rooms are very nice and clean with a lot of dark wood and even a private bathroom. The only downfall to my room was the 2 inch cockroach that had taken up its brief residence on my bed! Well 2 inches, no, he was actually 3 inches with feelers! I can do just about anything normally, bug wise, but cockroaches I really don’t like especially big ones but I knew either I had to get him out or he was staying the night and the speed they move that really wasn’t an option!
So after evicting my unwanted guest I headed back into town to check out the best wats and the Royal Museum.
Wat Xieng Thong
First though I went for a wander along the river front. The main area of Luang Prabang is on a peninsula between the Mekong and the Nam Khan River. It’s a very pretty area with some lovely buildings it’s also very clean and tidy which is always nice and of course a million miles away from the vileness that is Vang Vieng. I’m trying to feel positive about it all and I’m sure I will after a couple of days but at the mo all I can think about is the £400 I’m going to have to shell out!
Rice cakes drying by the river
What I do decide today is that I need to get down to the south of Laos so I can cross into Cambodia and there was the option to take the day bus down to Vientiane taking 10 hours and then the next night a night bus to Pakse and although I wasn’t really looking that forward to all that travelling it was, of course, a lot cheaper than flying. Now though there is a very strong possibility that if I have to drive through Vang Vieng once again I may well get off and hunt the bastard down that stole my phone and do him so irreparable damage (potentially I’m not kidding)!! So on that note I’ve decided to pay an absolute fortune to fly! Well I’m already way out of pocket! Ok I know I’m going on a bit now, give me a couple of days and I’ll calm down! ;-)
So that’s what I did today as well as trip a trip in the morning to visit some caves nearby that are reported to be crammed with hundreds of Buddha images.
There are a lot of things to do in this part of the country but a lot of it involves either trekking (which I can’t do at the mo really) and cycling (which I have no major desire to do at the mo!) or otherwise other things to see and do are a few days journey from here and seeing as I need to head south at some point it’s going to be defeating the object a little to go north. Ideally I should have started in the north and then headed south rather than starting half way up and going north then south but you can’t have everything in life huh?
Anyway I think I’m doing ok. If I was heading into Vietnam or Thailand from here then it would be ok and make sense but at the mo it doesn’t really make sense doing anything other than what I’m planning.
So tomorrow is going to see me up nice and early for the caves trip and then depending on how I feel when I get back as to whether I bother going to some nearby waterfalls or not, I’m sure they’re lovely but the trip is really just for swimming and I don’t really do that especially in a river or lake unless the water is crystal crystal clear! Gotta be aware of crocodiles huh?! Anyway that decision can wait till later.
The wat at the Royal Palace
Tomorrow’s trip is going to start with a boat trip on the Mekong which I’m looking forward to then heading off to a local village and then the caves, should be nice. Then I’ll have maybe the afternoon and then the evening to look around the beautiful night market again and maybe get a bite to eat on the riverfront.
The night market is very pretty and very colourful and they have some lovely things to buy, but if I start now then I just have to carry them around for the next 4 weeks. I guess I could get some light bits thought couldn’t I?! ;-)
Novice monks and their teaching room
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