I sang it my way! - Luang Prabang, Lao Peoples Dem Rep
Luang Prabang, Lao Peoples Dem Rep
Where I stayed
In a dorm with 15
What I did
Bowling alley
Waterfalls
Woke up this morning to the peaceful view of the river, we will be travelling on that river today. We have decided to ditch the truck and take the boat down. We have enough people to have two boats, which is going to be the fuddy boat and the party boat. Of course we are on the party boat and it means a lot of drinking even if we are off at 10.30am. Poison of choice today is scotch for Steve and I. So it took quite a while to get down there, about 6 hours and that was not stopping at the Buddha Cave as it wasn't getting good reviews from those coming out, but we did stop nearly every hour for a wee stop and then there was the replenishment of beer and food stop, but we made it in one piece. Into a tuk tuk and over to the truck for our bags. Arrive at the hostel and we are hit up for Vietnam visa applications straight away, so back to the truck for us so we can get passport photos. Agreed a price with the tuk tuk driver and then when Steve is at the truck he tried to tell me it will be more, like triple the price. Silly man didn’t know who he was messing with, so all good and back to original agreed price and Steve is back so we are off. Back at the hostel and he tries to pull the same stunt with Steve, good thing I have taught him well and he pays the original price. In a massive dorm room here with 13 of us but we do get our own bathroom with a shower that has pressure and hot water. Down to the night market to check it out and ended up getting some food from an alley. It was good grub and only 90p each for an all you can fit on your plate. Off to Marty’s official leaving drinks now and not really feeling it in the Aussie Bar that doesn’t play Australian music, typical. And the wine is chilled, why is that?? Half a bucket of wine and I am back in the game, ready to party and sing along to Australian songs that only Steve and I know, note: that is more like it. Everyone is telling me that I am "singing" too loud, but what do they expect, this is my territory now, they should have taken us to the English or Irish pub, although it may not had made any difference. Anyways, so this country is on curfew and that means “lights out, all out at 11pm”. So where do you go??? To the bowling alley of course. They are open to 3am and sell booze, so fit as many as you can into a tuk tuk and we are off. Of course I am no better at bowling when I am drunk but didn’t come last, only second last. Steve was at the top somewhere, I had more important things to do like socialising so the rest of my “team” got a little impatient as they always had to wait for me. Steve and I were drinking this awesome stuff called Lion King Whiskey, totally recommend it to anyone travelling to Laos and of course you have to go to this bowling alley! Back outside to our waiting tuk tuk and back to the hostel for a night cap. By the time we finished chatting and being drunk it was about 6:30am and time for bed, what a long day. Needless to say today was pretty uneventful. Catching up on sleep and eating some very unsatisfying lasagne (Steve’s burger looked much better). We did make it out in the evening for Chris’s birthday and had pizza which was quite good, so bad Italian finished off with good Italian, just slow service. Steve wanted to go out for a few drinks so we did. He ordered himself just a small drink, a bucket of red bull Mojito, literally came in a bucket. Only managed to get the one in before bed time and the city is about to shut down anyways. Things to do today, so heading out to the waterfall to start. It is about 1 hour away in a tuk tuk, however, the chappy we agreed to take us there has now pulled over and called a friend. So now some go in one tuk tuk and some in the other. We get past a check point, pay some money and then pick the others up from the side of the road. So we get there and find ourselves at a bear enclosure, which was a little bizarre. Over to the waterfalls now and the water is so blue it is inviting. We headed up to the main waterfall and then back to the others for a swim. There are fish in the water so not sure how to get in and the water is cold. Steve decided he would go for the rope swing option. Of course this meant that he would swing off, not let go come back, hit his elbow and then jumps off. Isn’t that what everyone does?? Decided to get in for a photo opp and the fish are everywhere, horrible. They nibble at your feet if you stay still for too long. Out again and up to the main waterfall so they can do the dance for Chris’s blog. Back to the hostel now after a chicken baguette. Sorting out the **** to send home today and there seems to be so much of it. Down to the night market to buy more. Dinner time first though and went to a restaurant along the river where service was so slow but the food was excellent so it made up for it. We could see the poor mum cooking her butt off trying to get the food out all by herself and there were these demanding Thai men there so felt a little sorry for her but I was hungry too. Back to make some market purchases and post our stuff back. But of course the courier man closed early, so now have to lug the extra 10kg around with us. Don’t know where we are going to put it so just everywhere at the moment.