Day 8.

20th November.

Chiang Mai, Thailand to Luang Prabang, Laos

This morning was mainly feeding cats and waiting for our taxi to the airport.

We think our taxi driver – kindly arranged by the property owner – was a family member as he knew where we were located (a little difficult if you didn’t) and his car had the squeakyist gear stick we have ever heard. Even he giggled every time he changed gear, gotta feeling he was dad . A very nice man, nonetheless, who got us to the airport on time.

We went in the lounge again, I have to say that a Priority Pass is certainly worth it when you have a lot of travelling to do.

Today’s flight was on an ATR-72 (propeller jet plane) with Lao Airlines. It was really funny sitting so close to the ground. As we were first in the queue at check-in ( the airline doesn’t allow you to book seats or check in on line) I asked if there were any emergency exit seats available and BINGO, we got row 1 , always worth an ask.

The hostess was in traditional dress, how refreshing , and also refreshing was the offer of a complimentary snack and drink. You don’t get that very often anymore, especially considering the flight was only an hour!

All of a sudden we were giving landing cards and visa application forms to fill in. Everyone scrabbled for a pen and most were completed as we touched down! Lucky for us, Gareth had bought our visas online so we only had entry and exit info to complete .

Our approach took us over jungle clad hills and mountains, and as Luang Prabang came into view we also spotted Phousi Mountain with its gold temple. Wow!

We arrived at Laos International Airport and queued for a while at immigration and then bought another SIM card for our stay here, THB100 for 8 days = 15GB (£2.27).

Gareth had booked this accommodation (The Belle Rive Boutique Hotel) on the recommendation of our friends Aniket and Kim. A transfer was included which took about 15 mins.

Coming into the town, it reminded me of Goa, rough around the edges and hawkers selling any manner of things along the roadside.

We then came around to the main road where all the lovely hotels and guesthouses are, wow, what a lovely spot. We’re right opposite the Mekong River. At night, for sunset, boats take paying guests downriver to watch the sunset. Our hotel includes this for free so we have booked for tomorrow night.

Our little hotel comprises a few buildings dotted around the vicinity but our room is in the original building on the main road. Most of the buildings here, including this one are of colonial or traditional style. We have a mezzanine bedroom and a small balcony to sit and watch the world go by.

We practically dumped our bags, Gareth had a quick ciggy on the balcony and then we popped across to the hotel restaurant terrace – on the river – for a sundowner. Heaven.

Everyone is so polite here, it’s delightful .

We treated ourselves to a cocktail and some spring rolls until the sun set and then went back to our room. The mini bar is complimentary so we shared a local Luang Prabang beer, mozzzie creamed-up and headed out to the night market. It was already dark at 18:15 and we were getting hungry!

The night market is a 15 minute walk away. You can use one of the hotel’s free bicycles if you want but we preferred to walk.

From the night market you can see the illuminated temple on the hill. We are looking forward to seeing that tomorrow.

You can buy practically anything you want from the night market, our only dry purchase was a fridge magnet, hand painted . We did buy food and drink , which was lovely and chatted to an Austrian couple who just bought a one-way ticket and are meandering, for a better word around Asia. How flipping lovely. They have been doing this for 40 years! (Not been away for that long obviously).

We are now sat outside our gorgeous little hotel with a glass of wine, in the cool evening – how amazing that I’m thinking I might need to take a sweat top out with me tomorrow night . By the way, there’s a strict curfew here. You have to be home by 12midnight or face a fine – no Cinderella, your tuk tuk won’t turn into small animals . Never come across that before.

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Day 9 Tuesday 21st November. Luang Prabang Laos

We were up early this morning, I think all the different beds and times are getting to us. We had a scooter booked for 9.30am so had breakfast beside the river and then took instructions on how to use the scooter . Gareth had to try 3 helmets until he found one that fitted him..we then discovered it had a big crack in it totally useless but better than nothing, at least it would keep the sun off of his head!

After stopping at the cashpoint we headed out of town towards a waterfall – Kuang Si. It was about an hour’s ride. Though the days are hot here, this morning was a little chilly so we wore our jumpers . On the way we stopped at a café in a rice paddy field (dry at this time of year), watching the workers in the distance out in the midday sun whilst we drank lovely cold lemon sodas.

Gareth had to concentrate as the road was really potholed…yes , worse than the UK! Eventually we arrived, paid to securely park the bike ( you have no choice, it’s the only bike parking available ) and got the golf buggy up to the waterfall gates. The ride is included in the entrance cost.

Before you see any of the waterfall you come across a bear sanctuary. These bears have been rescued by ‘freethebears’ charity from poachers and hunters. There are two different indiginous bears, the Moon bear and the Sun bear. Bless them, just sleeping in the shade of the forest. Gareth bought a new cap and I got a ‘freethebears’ t-shirt .

Onwards. Climbing up through the forest we came across the waterfall approaching it from the bottom. It is splendid , the colour of the water is amazing and the noise is very loud, reverberating around the forest. There are dedicated spots for you to bathe, with some very funny warning signs . But overall, it was worth the bum numbing, dust inhaling, pothole swerving journey. The problem was we had to do it all again on the way back .

Heading back to town, we passed what we previously thought was an elephant sanctuary, though coming back past it we realised they were riding the elephants, so didn’t stop.

A little further on we saw a herd of cows, and then heard a strange screeching noise that sounded like a very loud cat. As we got closer I saw it was in fact a younger cow, there didn’t appear to be anything wrong with it so we assumed it was calling for it’s mum .

We stopped at another lovely café along the banks of the Mekong and had lunch before the last leg of our trip back to town.

Arriving back at the hotel we were advised that our complimentary sunset river cruise was leaving in 40 minutes! Definitely no time for a siesta then .

The cruise departed from the hotel’s restaurant, just across the road. We were taken on board one of the longboats and given a complimentary drink of wine, then untied from the bank, we motored up the Mekong.

It’s always nice to see a different view of the place we’re staying in. There’s a beach where children and families were playing games. Men fishing, from the banks and from boats, whilst pleasure craft, like ours hung around waiting for the sun to set. It wasn’t spectacular but the silent drifting, when the engine was turned off, made me want to lay back with my arms out as if I was floating down the river on my back. And that wasn’t just the wine talking.

Coming back to shore we decided to go for a meal at one of the restaurants recommended by the hotel. The Tamarind is also a cooking school. When we arrived, early by all accounts, wasn’t even 6pm, all of the tables were reserved but lucky for us, some not until 8pm.

The waiting staff explain the traditional Laos menu to you while you try their roasted bamboo snack (which is actually delicious), you can choose for yourself or there is a set menu . We decided on a sharing platter starter consisting of deep fried river weed, traditional sausage, a cold vegetable salad, sticky rice and a chicken stew, yum yum.

For mains Gareth chose fish steamed inside a tied banana leaf with steamed veg and I had stuffed lemongrass (you peeled away the lemongrass to reveal a chicken meatball). With one large beer between us this gourmet meal came to the grand total of £17!! We had to check the exchange rate a few times, that just didn’t seem right. Amazing, quality food .

There wasn’t room for pudding so we walked back towards the night market, had a coffee and a beer on a roof terrace then meandered back to the hotel for a nightcap.

We are going to be sorry to leave Luang Prabang, it’s just lovely here, but before we go I’m up at 5am tomorrow to give alms to the monks. Will let you know how I got on tomorrow.

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Day 10. Weds 22nd November. Luang Prabang to Vientiane, Laos.

I was up at 5am so that I could attend the alms giving. The hotel had prepared 2 baskets for me consisting of 22 boiled eggs and a pot of sticky rice in each.

The young man on reception pinned a sash around me and gave me a mat to kneel on. He also said, before the monks came, to hold up a basket and wish for good fortune. I did this for both baskets .

Walking up to the street behind our hotel, I was surprised to see so many people already there. Mats had been laid out on one side of the road and little stools had been placed on them. I sat on a bench and watched the activity for a bit, then a young woman came over, took my mat and laid it out for me, placed my baskets on it and gave me one of her stools.

I hadn’t seen her before and she wasn’t from the hotel. She then offered me trays of the cookies (individually wrapped) she had brought as offerings. I kindly declined, I thought I had my work cut out getting the sticky rice out of the pot to distribute with an egg 44 times! She then gave me a clear plastic glove as I didn’t think to ask for one in the hotel.

I took my shoes off and sat down to wait for the procession of monks and novices to appear. People are very keen for you to take part, but not to use it as a spectacle or a social media opportunity. Monks are held in the highest esteem, you need to be lower than them when handing out the alms, trying not to touch their super shiny food bowls when depositing the food and be silent.

It’s hard to think that some people join the procession, taking photos and calling out, let alone touch them. Apparently you can ask a monk if you can take his photo but it’s bad manners to just take one.

I can only say it was a bit surreal this morning, still dark, sat with kind strangers, some visitors but mostly locals, handing out food to young and old barefoot monks. I was back in the room at just gone 6am and tried but failed to go back to sleep.

Last night our hotel porter told us about his 6 years as a novice. He left at 18 because he wanted to go to a different university. Novices become monks on their 20th birthday. They eat only two meals a day, the last one before Midday, then fast until the morning when they collect alms.

Temples out in the villages fair better than in the towns as the village people make sure the monks have enough food. The towns are a mixed bunch so not as many people donate alms to them. This means they have to find other means to get food etc.

It was very interesting listening to him and gave me a greater understanding.

We also had a chat with one of the hotel owners. He is a fairly young man from Switzerland. When he came to Laos 8 years ago he couldn’t speak the language so immersed himself into it with the help of a private tutor. 4 intense months later he could hold a conversation with anyone wow!

We complimented the hotel, and, you know Gareth, he just had to point out that it would be a good idea to recommend booking a table at the restaurants they promote. He said it was good feedback bless him, so diplomatic.

After a shower we went across the road for our last riverside breakfast before getting our cab to the train station.

The Lao – China Railway opened in December 2021 and now runs from Beijing to Vientiane. The station is quite a way out of town in what at present is a remote area. I’m sure if we returned in 5 years time it would look very different.

The station building itself is huge, there are only 2 platforms but, while we were waiting for our train, there were a lot of passengers, so I can see why it needed to be big.

The officials are quite strict, bags are x-rayed and you walk through a detector as you do at the airport. Gareth didn’t realise that he had an age old, well-loved Swiss army knife in his suitcase. He sadly had to hand it over .

We were in first class, £33 each for lots of legroom and big seats. It was noisy at first, until our fellow travellers settled down and fell asleep . Most of the journey is in tunnels but when you do see the countryside, you are rewarded with views of remote homesteads in lush green jungle and winding rivers. Every now and again there are ugly industrial sites but they don’t take anything away from the misty landscape.

I had my eyes peeled for wild elephants but was not so lucky today.

The 2 hour journey went quite quickly and on exiting Vientiane station I used the recommended app Loca – like Bolt and Uber – to order a cab. Within seconds, a guy tapped me on the shoulder, wow, that’s service for you. Making sure his number plate matches that as given on the app we jumped in – mainly for the Aircon, it was really hot, and made our way to our accommodation.

For the first time on this trip we suffered a hiccup. I had booked an Airbnb but had been contacted by the owner to apologise and that she had had to change our accommodation. Apparently there’s an issue with the bathroom. Anyway, her family own the two hotels next door and when we arrived, she met us and checked us in.

We didn’t really like the alternative but thought, hey, it’s only two nights. Gareth went for a siesta and I went for a walk to get our bearings. We are in a great spot, in walking distance from the temples and markets, with bars and restaurants right outside.

We are on the banks of The Mekong River again, though we have a grass island in between us and the river at present. I think it swells once the winter rains come. Anyway, the other side of the river is Thailand .

Coming back to the apartment I sat on the bed and had I been blindfolded would have thought I’d laid on the table! The mattress is rock hard. No good for my ever present, waiting for an excuse to flare up sciatica . I messaged our host who came up to apologise . She has secured another room in the hotel in front of us for tomorrow night, if we could bear with her. Of course. Gareth always says he’s not very good at french. He’s doing himself an injustice as he can understand everything our host says and answer when needed . Tomorrow’s hotel will be an improvement.

We popped across the road after a shower for cocktails and beer, had a delicious but ridiculously cheap meal in a restaurant, walked along the promenade and around the night market before returning for another drink before bed. We still have the curfew here so no need to worry about banging beats all night long

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