Luang Prabang

We loved Luang Prabang instantly, if only for the fact that it marked the end of our boat trip. A former imperial city and current UNESCO world heritage site, the town has an instant charm. As Chris summed it up, it ticks all the boxes : Great food, great coffee, great pastries, great baguettes... For people who don't only think about food, it also has great monuments, great markets and great colonial architecture.
We stayed only a couple days but enjoyed them immensely dividing up our days between Chris' priorities and mine. Mainly we went from Breakfast to morning coffee with almost no interval, and occupied time with short strolls before heading for the night food market where we feasted on barbecued pork and noodle and rice buffets.



On the second day, we went to the nearby waterfall, a highly popular activity on account of the heat and there, were amazed with the surreal turquoise natural swimming pools formed by the cascading waters. In fact, we weren't the only ones enjoying this magical place since Jude Law and Sienna Miller were also there, snuggling by the edge of the pool. The trashies were right! I made eye contact with Sienna and it took about 5 minutes standing right next to them for Chris to understand what I was frantically whispering and gesturing about.



Our days in Luang Prabang went slowly, following the rhythm of our digestive system and we were a bit sad to leave our guesthouse, run by a very charming old man who could speak perfect french. Nevertheless, the time had come and we moved on to Vang Viang, a renown party town, quite unsure we would love it nearly as much. Well, they had better have some good baguettes at least!

Houay Xai to Luang Prabang : 2 days on the Mekong

There is a bus that goes from Houay Xai to Luang Prabang in about 4 hours and costs $10 but that's not where you will find us or any other authentic-experience-seaking backpacker. No, instead, we chose to catch the slow boat down the Mighty Mekong which takes two full days with an overnight stop in a single dirt lane town, costs double the price and is solely furnished with narrow wooden benches which reminded me of the classroom in "little house in the prairie". The Lonely Planet describes it as a "once-in-a-lifetime" experience and I guess they mean it's really great but I also think that you won't catch me on that boat again anytime soon.



As we set off, about 40 min. after schedule, the spirits are high and the boat is quite full with some people opting for the floor rather than the pews and congregating in groups, chatting about the night before or the trip to come.



The Mekong is pretty quiet and we hardly pass a few people fishing in the river. Their villages are hidden in the hills surrounding and the only traces of people living there are some bamboo fishing lines sticking out of the rocks and some herds of beige and grey water buffalos, enjoying a refreshing swim, in their perfectly matched surroundings of light coloured sand and dark grey rocks.



All the hills around us are ablaze and smoking. It is by now a pretty familiar landscape since we have reached the north of Thailand. Local farmers burn off everything on the hills to use for dry rice culture and other crops. Some hills are so steep and the quantity of burnt land is so incredible that it just seems totally wasteful and even dangerous. In the dry season, we have barely seen a drop of rain but in the wet season, these hills would just turn into avalanches of mud. The smoke in the air also makes photography quite a challenge, covering everything up with a thick blanket of dullness. Even the sun looks like a really orange moon.



The overnight stop is quick and fine. In the morning, we load ourselves up with bananas, cookies and some filled baguette sandwiches for lunch. The baguettes in Laos are one of the best things the French could ever leave behind. The trip goes very much the same, except the boat is about half the size and everything in it seems to have shrunk in proportion. Still, we know the drill and we all settle down while the seconds tick away slowly. Nothing much happens, the landscape just keeps on going by, a few fishermen, farmers and some water buffalos. It strikes us that this landscape and its inhabitants must have barely changed since the French were exploring the Mekong a hundred years ago. Even the burning hills were mentionned then.



It's true that this trip wasn't quite what I expected. With a mixture of images from the boat to Battambang of leaping laughing children and floating villages, I had assumed that the Mekong would be a bustling artery of markets and fishing nets. It wasn't. It was really quiet and isolated. A world where the passage of time seems to have little impact and once again, I got this now familiar feeling in South East Asia of not only travelling through space but also through time. Time immemorial.

Chiang Rai

We used Chiang Rai as a staging post for our escape from Thailand into Laos. After a bit over three weeks in Thailand, we were excited to move on and also felt like we had to have as many Pad See ews as we possibly could before it was too late!

We liked Chiang Rai well enough and made the most of our day there. We hired a scooter and went scouring the country side in search of an intriguing temple called Wat Rong Khun. As we drove further out of town, the english tourist signs stopped appearing and we went way too far which turned out to be great since we ended up following signs to a waterfall instead. When we got to the carpark area, we were faced with a staggering 1400m walk between our beloved scooter and the promise of a refreshing swim. After weighing the pros and cons mainly cold flowing water versus physical exertion in 40 degrees heat we decided that it was worth it and, actually, it was. We had a lovely swim and felt much better for it. The walk itself was really nice, surrounded on both sides by vertical corridors of bamboo forest.

After a bit more looking and enquiring we finally found the temple and that was also worth the trouble. Wat Rong Khun is the love project of a local artist who has dedicated his life to creating a complex of 9 buildings dedicated to his vision of Buddhism. So far, one building is well under way and the completion date is planned around 2070. What makes this temple quite unique though is that it is entirely made of white stucco adorned with small pieces of mirror, ressembling a big snow flake in the sun. And although quite traditional in many aspects, it has many interesting contemporary touches including an arresting sculpture at the entrance with dozens of hands sticking out of a pond as well as an usual mural in the stuppa mixing traditional representations of buddha with various action heros and depictions of futuristic cities.

We then spent a great evening at the local night bazaar which is full of touristy things to buy as well as a large food court popular with Thai people where they serve hotpots, a meat and vegetable fondue dish which we enjoyed very much. To top it off, we even enjoyed some interesting live entertainment which reminded us a lot of Priscilla queen of the desert.

The next morning, we set off on a very local bus for the border town of Chiang Khong where we waved Thailand goodbye and crossed the river into Houay Xai, Laos. There, we spent a night before embarking on a two day boat trip down the Mekong to Luang Prabang which deserves it's own entry.

Photos of Cambodia

We have finally found fast internet so here is a gallery of photos throughout Cambodia.