Before Asia, I always swore I would never backpack with an actual backpack. I was a suitcase girl and thought I was quite clever for being such, instead of having to rummage to the bottom of the backpack for every little thing I could just unzip and flip open my suitcase and have everything in plain view. Due to a hunch and the kindness of Perth friends, who supplied a backpack for each of us, we ditched our suitcases in favor of the traditional favorite way to backpack. Please let this be warning to all, do not attempt to backpack with a suitcase here ever(!) unless you are a glutton for punishment. After only six days into our trip in SE Asia I can plainly say that if I had, in fact, brought my suitcase along on this trip I would be hating life and probably would have abandoned my suitcase and all belongings five days ago. Case in point; we arrived at the Laos (pronounced La-ow) capital, Luang Prabang, and as we disembarked our long-boat we found ourselves standing on the river bank staring up at a steep hill with a narrow, v. steep staircase that would lead us to the city and all I could do was think of the hour that it would have taken me to slowly bump my way up the staircase if I had stubbornly brought my suitcase. Thinking this, I was blown away when we saw some locals carrying 50 kg bags of rice on their head up the hill and passing the foreigners with the backpacks as we climbed up.
Luang Prabang, a gorgeous slow-paced capital, pop. 52, 466 is thought by Lonely
Planet to be the most sophisticated, photogenic city in all SE Asia. It is easy to see why; nestled between 2 rivers, the Mekong and the Nam Khan in northern Laos, you are easily won over its many charms, most noticeably, the orange-robed monks hurrying down the streets. As I previously mentioned, I love the monks. My finger itches, wanting to take a photo, every time I see a monk. The stark contrast between the brilliant orange and the old city streets is striking. I was also won over its many french cafes and bistros scattered throughout the city; half-way around the world from Paris, we could wake up and stroll across the street and find ourselves having savory breakfast crepes for only $1.50. We were expecting the previous two highlights but the last, my favorite, took us by complete surprise.
A 45-min tuk-tuk ride and a short stroll through greenery and we found ourselves at the first of many, many breathtaking multi-tiered waterfalls tumbling over limestone formations into a series of cool, turquoise pools. Our mistake was thinking that 2 hours was all we would need here. I could have spent a full 8-hrs there easy strolling between the natural, swimming pools. One particular waterfall was a young kids dream swimming hole, complete with a rope swing and a deep, cool pool.
There is, and the end of the series of small waterfalls, is the big one, and if you were smart, unlike us, and left enough time to climb up it, we heard of a quasi-secret random pathway you can follow off the beaten track that will lead you to a gorgeous, secluded swimming hole. Next time.
After a day of adventures we had an evening of $3 massages (we're sold... one per day sounds good to us), market shopping and the difficult task of
choosing what to eat for dinner amongst the dozens and dozens stalls at the night food market... If I were more adventurous we could have tackled the mystery meat on
stick or goulash-type surprises but in the end we settled for a booth w/ traditional veggie, pasta, rice, and meat concoctions. For 10,000 Kip (note: 10,000 K = roughly $1 CAD which allowed for a cheap thrill; taking money out of an ATM and my anemic bank account revealed me to be a millionaire in Laos... woot woot) we received a large bowl that we filled to the top from any dish.
Sadly, we had to move on from this gorgeous town and so we headed off to our next destination via mini-bus. We were pre-warned that traveling in Laos can be slow and prone to breakdowns but regardless, I was blown away by our travels. I reckon its a good thing that we are never in a hurry cuz it could only lead to sky-high stress levels. I was riding shotgun and I swear our driver never passed 50 km/hr, even on the highway. Some hills he wasn't even topping 10 km/hr. It was a long journey. Originally 5 hrs (to drive 140 km), it was stretched into 8 hrs thanks to a flat tire. We loved our delay
though. As our driver diligently worked on fixing (not changing) the tire we watched a gorgeous sunset and took the opportunity to venture into the tiny village in search of a toilet. Due to the remoteness of the village, no local spoke english and, of course, we spoke no Lao so through a combination of butchered Laos words (thanks to Lonely Planet's Basic Laos Vocab) and ridiculous gesturing we were able to convey our mission. The locals are so sweet, a lil boy led us all the way to his own house and his mom let us use their squat toilet. Driving slowly (v. slowly) through the windy road gave us a fantastic chance to see country side, villages and locals. We were blown away seeing full families doing manual labour on the roads, toddlers, elderly and all, digging trenches/ditches, beating fern leaves on the road (not sure what that's all about) and placing fern leaves on blackened hill sides... Apparently, the Lao people have a slash
and burn farming tradition that dates back hundreds of years that have left only 10% of Laos w/ original growth forest compared to 75% a hundred yrs ago.
xoxo
V
No comments:
Post a Comment