![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
iguana
Emily and I spent a week in the World Heritage city of Luang Prabang, Laos in October, then two weeks touring from the north to south of Vietnam into November.
We had the time of our lives, and both took lots of photos. Here's the first part of our story, in mostly picture form:
Friday
We took the scenic route to Luang Prabang, with three flights in total - changing planes in Dubai, and an overnight stay outside Bangkok airport. Our final flight from Bangkok to Luang Prabang on Friday 18th was in a Lao Airlines turboprop plane, which was just a tiny bit scary, but also a tiny bit VERY AWESOME.
After checking into our guest house, Thong Bay (amazing place; bungalows on the river front!) the first thing we did in town was to climb Mount Phousi, a 150-metre high hill slap bang in the middle of the city centre.
Luang Prabang is known for its number of Buddhist temples - Wats - and indeed there is even one at the top of Mount Phousi. We saw a few monks making their way down the steps as we went up.
The view from the top, showing the Mekong River hundreds of kilometres upstream of the Delta in Vietnam which would visit later, was rather amazing. We sat on a bench with this view for some time before heading back down the other side of the hill, past the temple and various golden statues of the Buddha.
Saturday
The first full day we spent in Laos was Boun ok Phansa, the celebration of the end of the Buddhist equivalent of Lent. Monks resumed their social duties and their daily ritual of receiving alms from the local people. The staff at Thong Bay, with amazing generosity, took any of the guests that wanted to go (most of the 12 bungalows) down to town to give alms. They provided us with the sticky rice and, since it was a special occasion, chocolate bars, to give to the monks. Shortly after sunrise we had a conveyor belt of orange robes heading towards us, which outlasted all the food we had to give, and it was really wonderful to be part of the local tradition.
We spent the rest of the day exploring the town, and at night we toured the night market, which lined the high street on both sides and down the middle with colourful marquees and local merchandise. We bought several things, including lamp shades, cloth and tea!
Sunday
We had our first trek today, through gorgeous green hilly farmland and jungle, to the breathtaking Kuang Si waterfall. After driving out of town for 45 minutes or so and walking through a local hilltribe village, we were greeted with amazing views from the first step.
The farms were mostly growing sticky rice, which is served with everything in Laos and is really delicious. We saw one young boy cycling crops back towards the village as we walked through trees farmed for wood.
After about 90 minutes of walking the path became so hilly that not even the determined rice farmers could use the land, and we made our way into lush jungle. Every so often we would get a glimpse through the trees of the views, and they were amazing.
We eventually reached the top of the falls, and, taking our walking boots off, paddled right out to the top of the waterfall. Standing with the view from the top, water roaring literally around my feet, was exhilarating.
To get to the base of the falls, we made our way down steep muddy slopes, and, at one point, some rickety wooden steps. The constant stream of water cascading down them had turned parts of the steps to stone.
We ate lunch on a bench with this view of the waterfall.
Just downstream from the waterfall were crystal clear turquoise pools. We'd seen pictures of Kuang Si on Google Image Search before deciding to go to Laos but we hadn't expected the pools to look quite as amazing as the photos we'd seen. But they really were breathtakingly beautiful.
There were three pools allowed for swimming. The first two were very busy, being nearest the waterfall itself and with one also having a rope swing to Tarzan into the water from. However, we were lucky enough to get the third pool to ourselves. Our guide was very patient while we enjoyed swimming around our personal lagoon.
We got back shortly before it got dark, when the town was transformed with lights and music for the Boun ok Phansa boat parade. There were 13 floats like this one, each representing (and I think made by) the people of a different Lao district.
The floats made their way down through the main high street, towards the largest Wat, Wat Xieng Thong, where they would wait for a while before being launched out onto the river.
The monks were out too, tending to the decorations and enjoying themselves. We saw a couple filming the parade on their smartphones.
Fire breathing!
After the parade, we bought a floating candle from one of the many street sellers. They all featured banana leaves and marigolds (we think - they were ubiquitously called "monk flowers" in Laos on account of their colour) and were all arranged differently. We walked down to the river where there was a wonderful atmosphere as everyone helped light each other's candles with their own, then pushed ours out to float down the Mekong.
I'd like to think it made it out to the Mekong Delta, just like we did two weeks later.
Next post: Laos: Wats, waterfalls, and elephants
