The front desk clerk at Spicy Laos hostel was sleeping in a tent on top of the pool table with hostel mates smoking pot nearby, just to give you an idea of the kind of place we were staying at. He puts us in an empty 4 person dorm with one fan....I took the top bunk and prepared for a sweaty night. It really wasn't bad, maybe because I was so tired, but either way we all slept late and by the time we got up and out, it was noon. Paul wanted to look for another place to sleep, but combined with my laziness and persuasion, we decided to stay at the hot and pot infested Spicy Laos. We made our way to the market and stopped when we saw a stand with a jolly little chubby lady who had an amazing smile and giggled a lot....I fell in love instantly. We ordered delicious baguettes (i had boiled eggs, cheese and avocado, HELLO!) and fresh fruit shakes.
We set out for a self-guided walking tour to familiarize ourselves with the city. We strolled along the Khan River which flowed into the Mekong and soon enough we were walking along the beautiful Mekong River. Suddenly, we stumbled upon a patch of grass and similarly to Vietnam, signs stated we were unable to go on it and this sign specified no rolling around in the grass. To rebel against the ridiculousness, Paul and Marjie decided I needed to roll around in the grass. I was nervous but excited, feeling like a badass while fearing the Communist Police at the same time. Well, I rolled around on the grass not once, but twice because Marjie couldn't figure out my camera on my first roll, and nobody flinched. Eh, it was fun for us!
We decided to stop for a beer on the riverfront about 1/2 way through our little walking tour which we never did see through to the end. We sat for 5 hours drinking and chatting. We tried to meet up with Kelly and Matt but it didn't work out and so we finally got up to leave because, surprise surprise, I was hungry. It was now night time so we walked through the night market, strolling through the vibrant colors of various products of bed covers, scarves, clothes, artwork, jewelry, etc. Then, like magic, we stumble upon heaven. The very first food stall we reached was a huge buffet that looked vegetarian to me. The short, rotund, adorable, Laos man in charge of the stall confirmed it was, in fact, 100% veggie. As if that wasn't good enough, the deal was to you fill your plate as full as you'd Iike for only 10,000 kip ($1.50). That's a win-win and let's add in a win because it was scrumptiously delish! After dinner Marj went home and Paul and I went to a place called Utopia for more beers. When we got there, we felt like we were in the Western world, with only foreign patrons drinking, listening to foreign music and playing beach volleyball. We didn't feel like we were in Laos at all. We both prefer the local scene, but I have to admit that sometimes it's nice to go someplace where you aren't different so for this night, I was OK to sit on the sidelines and enjoy my fellow tourists. With the damn 11pm curfews, we had to pour our beer into plastic cups and left. Apparently, the bowling alley in this city stays open late and serves beer, so most people go there for late night shenanigans, but we decided to go for a walk before bedtime at Spicys.
Drinking and sweating like an 800 pound man all day and night can really take a toll on a person. Drinking 3 liters of water a day just isn't enough for traveling in the SE Asian hot season. I'm setting up my excuse for having yet another late start to day 2. Well, Paul and I had a late start but not Marjie. Luang Prabang has many places to volunteer teach English to locals and monks. Marj has been looking for opportunities like this and she was determined to get her teachin on and was gone all day. Late morning, Paul and I set out for the jolly baguette lady for sandwiches and fruit shakes. While eating, we hear "hey, what's up guys", look up and see Nick. He seems to be infamous for popping up everywhere, out of nowhere. Slowly but surely, people Paul and Nick had known passed and stopped to chat: Eva and Thomas and Angelica and Zach. We told them that Kelly and Matt had splurged on a posh hotel with a pool and we hoped to use it at some point that day, but after some chat, everybody parted ways, non-committal to any particular plans but hoped to meet up later.
Paul and I climbed up to the top of a temple that was quite beautiful. The big selling point of this temple is that it's home to Buddha's footprint. I kind of assumed this was the same thing as when a temple claims they have Buddha bones. I saw the footprint and I guess there's a chance that's what it was. Yet, it could have also been just a big hole in the limestone - depends how you look at it. We wrapped up the temple experience with a beer (it's just so hot, beer always seems right ) and tried to go to the Royal Palace/National Museum. I was wearing a tank top and had to pay to rent a shirt, so we figured we would go another day and went out to search for Matt and Kelly's hotel as swimming was very appealing by now. While doing so, we bumped into Eva and Thomas who were doing the same thing and we hopped in a tuk tuk together rather than walking in the heat. We got there and guess who was in the pool already with Matt and Kelly? Yes, Nick! We all quickly joined in. Perfect timing as well, since Happy Hour was about to begin. Paul and I ended up staying well into the night, had a great time and hit the night market for food (hmmm, banana and honey crepe) and then bed.
One good thing about Spicy Laos hostel was that they organized transportation to the Kuang Si Waterfall in the afternoon. So our 3rd day in Luang Prabang, me, Marjie, Paul, Kelly, Matt and Nick signed up to go. Maybe it was the heat, but there were 3 full vans leaving from Spicys to go as well. That morning, however, while Marjie was teaching English, Paul and I moved our shit to a guesthouse 20 yards away after the hottest night of my life. The fan didn't reach the top bunk the 2 nights before, but this one particular night was brutal. We had the windows open with hopes of a breeze, but instead I was up every hour spraying bug spray to fend off the mosquitoes that were enjoying me all night. I like hostels because it's a great way to meet people, but we hadn't met anybody as we normally do and so it was pointless to stay there. Plus, this other guesthouse was cleaner, had better fans and cheaper for Marj and I (as I've said earlier, rooms are often cheaper than dorms).
The afternoon at the waterfall was glorious. There were short hikes to various tiers and at most spots you could swim in the delightfully cold water, stare at a beautiful waterfall and sometimes do both! We worked our way to hike to the top and mid-way we ran into a few people coming out from a path that said "do not pass", but they said passing was worth it....so we did. And it totally was worth it. We walked straight into these pools with the massive waterfall just raining on us. I slipped on a rock on my way to the pool near the falls, but other than that, it was very safe. Kelly, Matt and Paul went directly under the falls and the boys swam into this underwater cave. I happily watched, sizzingly cold for the first time in a week. As much as I enjoy the water, I'm not all that confident in my ability and fear it a little so I tend to control my adventures in the water. Afterwards, Nick, Paul and I did complete the hike before heading back.
Later, we went out for a good-bye beer as Kelly and Matt were leaving that night on a different route :( After parting ways we went to the night market for dinner. I found another vegetarian buffet stall and really took advantage of it....a bit too much because I wanted to die I was so full. I also got a little shopping happy, which is rare for me, but nice to see the beautiful stuff. Nick and Paul, ironically both love frisbee and played a bit in the market too. A young Laos boy confidently joined in on the fun which was cool. We went home fairly early - between my food coma and the lack of sleep, I passed out immediately for a good night sleep in our new place with a good fan.
The next morning, refreshed, i set out to meet Marjie while she was taught English with the intention of taking pictures. I'm so glad I went because the young teens that Marj had been teaching 2 sessions a day for 2-3 days were adorable and spoke really good English. I was really impressed with their diligence and desire to learn English, seizing every opportunity to learn. Marj left feeling like she was on cloud 9 too, so I'm really glad she had the chance to do this.
I met up with Paul for our last lunch at the jolly cute baguette lady stand. We had intentions of going to the Royal Palace, but if you haven't gathered yet that Luang Prabang makes you the laziest blob on Earth, then I haven't done a good job with this blog post. With that being said, we never made it to the palace. We sat at a cafe drinking iced coffees and used the wifi. We decided it was the laziest city ever and it was best to spend the last day there being lazy. Lonely Planet raves about Luang Prabang and although it was a beautiful city and I, of course, enjoyed myself, it's by far my least favorite place in Laos. It was chock full of foreigners and everything was set up to accommodate us. I often didn't feel like I was in Laos, so I was looking forward to leaving and moving on to the next location.
We went to the bus station to get on our bus heading to Sam Nuea in the far Northeast, close to the Vietnamese border. We had heard it was off the beaten path and worth it because of all the history of the "Hidden War", an air war brought on by none other than our very own American leaders during the time of the Vietnam War. We were ready for the 16 hour journey!
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