Laos day 7 – Luang Prabang

Still feeling very poorly with no appetite and extreme tiredness.  I spend the day in bed asleep.  We had been thinking of changing our accommodation for our second week but have decided to put that off until I’m feeling better.  So we are staying at the Vilay for a further two nights at least.  We may then move to the bungalow across the river at Dyen Sabai, which now the bamboo bridge is almost finished will be easily accessible on foot from town.  Alternatively we have found a place renting bungalows in the hills which sounds idyllic and quiet.  The latter feature being an important consideration since we have been dogged by building and associated hammering, sawing, drilling and pounding everywhere we have stayed in Asia – Luang Prabang being no exception.  In addition we seem to have picked the only neighbourhood in Luang Prabang where they hold loud karaoke parties.  For two days now there has been questionable music blaring out from one or other local house from two in the afternoon until 10pm yesterday and 4pm today.  Oh, and did I mention the party held next door a few nights ago?  All of which  seems quite out of character with this otherwise quiet and peaceful town where the locals are generally asleep by 10pm and even the late bars close at 11.30!

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Laos day 6 – Luang Prabang

It was bound to happen and it is only surprising in that it hasn’t done so sooner.  Something I ate yesterday has disagreed with me in a major way  – was it at The Tamarind or the street food market? –  and I am laid low with food poisoning.  As well as the usual symptoms, I’ve a temperature, a splitting headache and feel overwhelmingly tired.  I sleep all day.  Andy takes the opportunity to return to Laos Airlines to change our flights to Chiang Mai to 27th December.

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Laos day 5 – Luang Prabang

We are enjoying the atmosphere of Luang Prabang so much that we have decided to stay here for another week.  So today we visit the Laos Airlines office to check that we can change the date of our flights.  This gives us the opportunity to explore a bit more of the town.  Of course, we should have brought the airline tickets with us, and when we get to the office they can’t help us without sight of them.  We make our way back to the river front via the Dala Market.  This used to be one of the primary markets in Luang Prabang, but has recently been rebuilt and is now almost exclusively handicrafts and jewellery within a modern building resulting in a cross between a covered shopping mall and a walk through market.  And it is virtually empty.  As we reach the river we inspect the progress of the bamboo bridge which is now almost finished.  Steps have been cut into the river banks and handrails have been added.   We go in search of the Tamarind restaurant which has been recommended to us by the American couple we met a couple of days ago and this takes unto the back streets between the Mekong and the main street.  There is absolutely no traffic on these pretty streets and we wander the lanes passing temples and the occasional shop and restaurant.  The Tamarind turns out to be a tiny restaurant overlooking the back of the Wat Si Boun Hueang temple, where if you come around 5pm you can sit and listen to the monks chanting evening prayers.  Serving authentic Lao cuisine, this is an attractive restaurant which also offers cooking classes and is clearly aimed at, and is very popular with, tourists. We manage to secure a table overlooking the street and the Wat across the road.  In the evening we have cheap eats in the street food market..

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Laos day 4 – Luang Prabang

It’s a slightly chilly morning when we head for the Nam Khan river front for breakfast at around 10am. The sun hasn’t yet made an appearance, but the clouds burn off by the mid-morning and we are in for another glorious day.  After breakfast we wander along to check out progress on the bamboo bridge which seems to  be coming along apace.  All the supports are now in place and the basic structure reaches this side of the river.  Down on the Mekong river we find a boatman to take us across the river to the village of Ban Xiengmene, there being no bridge linking Luang Prabang with the other side of the Mekong.  This village is the start of  a one-and-an-half hour circular walk taking in several temples.  So map in hand we set off to explore.  The route takes us through the rather dilapidated street market and we walk out beyond the village and into the countryside.   It’s a pleasant walk  along an dusty unmade road passing  a couple of villages of roughly made shacks, a small rural bus depot and what appears to be the local beer  wholesaler.   We meet a few Lao along the way who regard us curiously, including three men trying vainly it seems to repair a broken down jumbo.   It is only when we reach  a ford across an unexpected river about an hour later that we realise that we have lost our way!  After a detour down a rough track which takes us nowhere, we decide to retrace our steps and by the time we arrive back at Ban Xiengmene to find the temples we are too tired to visit them and in any case it is time to meet up with our boatman.  We may come back!  In the evening we get some street food and a nice bottle of Castillo del Diablo with the intention of relaxing in the guest house garden.  But our plans are foiled by the owner and his family who are entertaining friends and we end up retreating to our room instead!

We are staying at the Vilay Guest House.  It is in a great location a short walk from the night market  and the temples.  Most of the guest rooms are in a separate block at the back of the colonial style house in which the French owner, his Lao wife and extended family live.  As a consequence there is a strong feeling of staying in someone’s home rather than a guest house. All of which is fine until it comes to using the facilities.   Then the computer is being use by one of the family, the family is entertaining in the garden, or the owner is chattering loudly with friends late into the evening just outside the bedroom window!  Misguided priorities perhaps?!  We are planning to move and spend our second week in a bungalow either across the river (if the bamboo bridge is complete) or another guest house in town if we can find something we can afford amongst all the boutique hotels.

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Laos day 3 – Luang Prabang

We hire bicycles and go on a general explore of Luang Prabang.  We’ve found that this the cheapest and one of the best way of getting to see more than would otherwise be possible on foot and to do it at our own pace.  There is very little traffic anywhere in Luang Prabang, with only the occasional motor bike, cycle or tut-tut to contend with.  Cars are even less in evidence.  All of which makes cycling here a real pleasure. Our tour takes us to some of the less visited parts of Luang Prabang and across the river to a small village.  In the evening we try the street food market and have some delicious barbecued fish and chicken with sticky rice.  This bustling little street market is in a narrow lane just off the main street with food stalls along one side and tables and benches down the other.  Here a mix of Lao and tourists tuck into some tasty, cheap eats.

Not all of Luang Prabang has been restored particularly in the outskirts although many of what once were unsurfaced back streets have been paved and edged with brick kerbing.  Crumbling colonial houses – which wouldn’t look out of place in the French countryside – are interspersed among the more traditional Lao houses and shops.  The former often ramshackled wooden structures with bamboo lattice walls and corrugated roofs.  And then there are the neo-colonial houses which mix Lao and French styles with ground floors of brick and plaster and the upper floor walls of wood, many with balconies and most with shutters.

Our bike ride takes us passed a local market which is way off the beaten track and we buy some rather good coconut and banana balls.  Further out of town and after a few detours we stumble across the Old Bridge.  This is open to pedestrians, bikes and cycles only and crosses the Nam Khan to a village which sits in a bend in the river and is largely untouched by the tourism.  Here the road is dusty and semi-surfaced  with a few wooden houses and shops.  We take a turning down an unmade road following a sign for a restaurant, not expecting much in this unlikeliest of locations.  But  it turns out to be quite a sizeable village and after a few twists and turns we come upon a  restaurant nestled in the lush tropical vegetation.   Tiered wooden terracing built out over the steep banks of the Nam Khan overlooks the river below.  With low, cushioned seating and tables and a palm-thatch canopy, this is a lovely little hideaway in which to take a break.  As we tuck into lunch we watch a group of workers and monks building a small bamboo footbridge that will link this village direcly with centre of the Luang Prabang peninsular.  The restaurant owners also have a  bungalow in the grounds with equally good views out across the river.  This will be a lovely spot to stay once the bridge is finished.

We drop into the Tourist Information Office to pick up a map and spend a revealing few minutes reading the visitors book.  There are many comments complaining about  the high prices charged by tour operators and the lack of cycle hire.  Apparently until recently it wasn’t possible to hire cycles in Luang Prabang because ‘tourists cause accidents’.  Many cynical people seem to think that this was more to do with keeping the tut-tut fares artificially high.  Whether this is true or not, prices here are certainly higher here than anywhere else we’ve been in south-east Asia, which is ironic given that this is the poorest country in the region.

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Laos day 2 – Luang Prabang

Today is a lazy, chilling day.  We don’t wake up until 10am and eventually have breakfast around midday in a small, unpretentious restaurant run by a Laotian family over-looking the Mekong.  From this vantage point we can watch life on the long boats moored on the riverbank below as well as the comings and goings of the small ferry boat service which takes people back and forth to the village of Ban Xiengmene on the opposite side of the Mekong.  It’s sunny and the temperature is perfect.  After breakfast we return to the guest house and spend some time in the garden chatting to a French woman from Brittany who has the room next to ours.  She is travelling for four months and is heading to Siem Reap for Christmas.  After catching up on some emails we head off for a late lunch and a walk along the Mekong river road to the end of the peninsular.  Here is a rickety bamboo foot bridge over the Nam Khan and after paying 8000 Kip towards the upkeep, we make our way across to the other side.  A short walk up and over the river bank brings us to a small village  which is home to several craft workshops producing paper and textiles.  Naively we think we have stumbled on a tourist free refuge, but no, as we get further down the dirt lane we discover this is a stop off on the tour trail from Luang Prabang!  Probably unsuspecting tourists don’t realise that they are being driven to a village only a short walk from the centre of town.  On our way back to the bridge we make a short detour to the promontory where the Nam Khan and Mekong rivers meet.  Here an enterprising Lao family have set up a palm-covered shelter under which it is possible to sit with a (warm) beer and have a perfect view of the sunset.  We round off the day with cocktails at a street bar chatting to a young American couple who are travelling from Hanoi to Ko Pi Pi in  Thailand.

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Laos day 1 – Luang Prabang

We fly to Luang Prabang in Laos today leaving Siem Reap at the very civilised hour of 1.30pm and arriving around 3pm.   Our first impression is not a good one as we try to withdraw some Kip from the airport ATM only for our card to be returned but no money is forthcoming.   Trying to get any assistance proves impossible;  no-one seems to know who is in charge and the staff show little inclination to help.   We give up and hope that our account won’t be debited.  There is a ticketing system and a standard fare for the jumbos from the airport to the city.  Jumbos are in effect mini lorries with parallel bench seats in the back – not the most comfortable way to travel.  Our guest house is in a sleepy lane that leads down to the Mekong and we  have a small, but quiet room at the back over-looking a courtyard-style garden. The room is basic but adequate and any minor shortcomings are more than made up for by the free wi-fi and cosy courtyard seating area just outside our door.

Luang Prabang sits at the confluence of the Mekong and Nam Khan rivers and has a population of around 26,000. We are in the old town which occupies the narrow peninsular of land, 1km by 250m, between the two rivers.  This is  an area of myriad temples and monks in saffron robes co-existing side-by-side with smart restaurants, bars, boutique hotels, handicraft shops and tour operators offering ridiculously over-priced tours.   Fortunately for us, there are still a few places to be found even in the old town that are suitable for travellers on a budget and it is still possible to eat cheaply if you want the authentic Laos experience rather than the westernised equivalent.

The city is a UNESCO world heritage site and this has helped to preserve the historic character of the old town even if a considerable part of it is either newly built albeit using traditional methods and materials.  It has also prettied it up with neat pavements and restored buildings with tasteful  interiors all designed to appeal and to be enjoyed by foreign tourists.  It  looks and feels very lovely and it is easy to be seduced by its attractiveness, but has it lost a little bit of its soul in the process?  Still there’s no denying the laid back ambience and the stunning location, the attractive mix of French colonial and unique Lao architecture which combine to make this such an appealing place to stay.

A night market fills the main street of the old town in the early evening.  Lao from the surrounding villages bring local handicrafts here every night, setting up stalls under red and blue marquees.  Silver jewellery,  traditional clothing,  bags, scarves, bed linen, slippers, sarongs, and much more are all neatly displayed on plastic sheeting on the floor.  There must be 100s of stalls lining the pavement and down the centre of the road, and with so many selling similar goods it is a wonder they all can make a living.

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Cambodia day 13 – Siem Reap

Today  we are just relaxing.  The weather is gloriously sunny and warm and we walk to the bar area to have some lunch.  We return to the Temple Club which serves good food and doesn’t require us to reset the wireless connection, which is always a painful and long-winded affair on our little Asus.   Later we return for dinner primarily because we want  to watch the performance of Apsara dancing that they put on nightly in the upstairs restaurant.

Traditional Khmer classical dance is also known as Apsara dance after one of the most popular classical dance pieces.  Perhaps more accurately described as dance-drama, each dance sequence is designed to tell a story.   Apsara dance has been a part of Khmer culture for over a millennium as the innumerable carvings of Apsara dancers on the walls of the Angkor temples bear witness.  There are four types of classical dance:  shadow theatre, folk, classical and masked.  For the price of a light dinner and a jug of barcadi and coke we are able to sit back and enjoy some very graceful and incredibly controlled dances in the classical and folklore styles.

The classical dance is inspired by the Reamaker (the Cambodian version of the Ramayana). With exquisitely ornate costumes. it is a grounded, delicate dance with slow, small, but precise flowing movements, arched back and feet,  fingers flexed back and coded facial expressions.  The folk dances tell stories of everyday rural life and we watch, among several, the Fishing Dance and the Good Harvest Dance.  For these  latter the costumes are less elaborate, there are male and female dancers and the movements less precise and more dynamic and free-flowing.  A real delight!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khmer_classical_dance

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Cambodia day 12 – Siem Reap

A lazy day. The weather is mostly overcast but warm, with the hot sun breaking through occasionally.  We buy the tickets for our flights to Luang Prabang leaving on Saturday and our onward flight to Chiang Mai in Thailand.  It looks as though we will be in Chiang Mai for Christmas.  We decide to pay cash for the tickets and save the exorbitant 3% commission which the travel agent wants to charge for a card transaction.  That proves to be easier said than done, as Andy trawls the ATMs in Siem Reap to try to withdraw $600.  The most he can get is $420;  we will have to return to the travel agency tomorrow with the rest.  We have lunch at the Temple Club which has become our preferred watering hole.  It has got its internet connection working again and we spend most of the afternoon trying to find some cheap accommodation in Luang Prabang which is not as easy as we had anticipated.  Eventually, in desperation, we book a couple of nights at the Vilay Guesthouse.  It has had mixed reviews, but, hey, it can’t be all that bad!

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Cambodia day 11 – Siem Reap

We take the early morning bus back to Siem Reap leaving at 8am. From there we plan to fly to Luang Prabang in Laos later in the week.  We seem to have travelled hardly any distance  before we are pulling up at a roadside mechanic to have the inner rear wheel changed!  This is the same bus we travelled out on, but this time the spare wheel is being taken off and replaced with a new tyre.  This is the fourth wheel change we have experienced whilst on the road!  We make several further stops along the way to pick up and drop of people and goods as well as to have lunch at a roadside cafe.  Pick-up trucks laden with people  and goods kick up dust as they pass while we tuck into sticky rice and watch the world go by.   We return to the Rosy Guesthouse and a room on the first floor next to the router, but we still can’t get a signal in the room!

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