Louang Prabang
Oh God, I really am super duper behind on the blogging front, but that's because so much has happened and I didn't really have a lot of time to sort it all out... yes I know, excuses, excuses...
Like I said the in the last entry, Louang Prabang is lovely. It's a UNESCO Heritage listed town and you can see the French influence everywhere you turn. It's got a great main 'High Street' with shops and restaurants all along it and at night, it turns into a pedestrian zone with a lovely night market. The stuff they sell is really lovely, mostly handicrafts and stuff made out of silk and silver. The region is famous for its silversmiths and it also has a tradition of silk weaving. We were sorely tempted to buy lots of things, but unfortunately we wouldn't be able to carry them... sob sob!
There are numerous temples to visit and a couple of museums, but one of the main temples is called Phou Si, which is located on top of a hill. You are meant to go there to watch the sun set over the Mekong. So we did! We were almost a little bit too late, but also managed to share the view with approximately 100 other tourists! It was so busy and I didn't enjoy it at all really... but the pics came out wonderfully. After the sunset, Tom, Phil and I set off in search of the Buddha caves and Buddha's footprint which could also be found on the hill. We searched for a long time and found lots of great statues, we found the caves (shut) and after some more investigating, we finally found Buddha's footprint.
To be honest, it wasn't what we expected. There's a little hut made out of stone with the tiniest hole to crawl through. Then you stand at the edge of an abyss, which is the footprint (the size of a giant). It looked a bit strange and we weren't entirely convinced Buddha actually went and made that footprint. It was really dark in that hut, too so we had to go in one by one and hold a lighter up...
We also went to a Temple Party on our first night! It was temple party season and basically people congregate at their local temple and get drunk. We heard lots of good stuff about it and our Guesthouse Mama recommended us to go, so we did.
Hmmm. Interesting. It wasn't the mad rave we expected, but basically a few people getting drunk while a guy was doing bad karaoke. Kind of like your average english pub scene only in a temple. The poor monks were walking around and clearing up. The entertainment on offer was petanque or 'Pop the Balloon' with a dart. All the boys had a go and none managed to burst three in a row, so we missed out on the main prize - a jar of pickled eggs. Yum yum...
We did have a good few beers though - Beer Lao!!!! Very cheap! And tasty! Only 30p for a big bottle! Yay!
During the course of the evening, Phil also got checked out by a couple of Lady boys. Well, not just visually if you catch my drift. All he wanted was to buy a round, but instead he got whisked away by some very determined Lao 'Ladies'. It was very funny, because at the end of the night, Matt got a ride on a scooter back to our place and he told us he too got 'checked out' by the driver! So the boys did really well, while us girls had a quiet night, heheheh.
Like I said the in the last entry, Louang Prabang is lovely. It's a UNESCO Heritage listed town and you can see the French influence everywhere you turn. It's got a great main 'High Street' with shops and restaurants all along it and at night, it turns into a pedestrian zone with a lovely night market. The stuff they sell is really lovely, mostly handicrafts and stuff made out of silk and silver. The region is famous for its silversmiths and it also has a tradition of silk weaving. We were sorely tempted to buy lots of things, but unfortunately we wouldn't be able to carry them... sob sob!
There are numerous temples to visit and a couple of museums, but one of the main temples is called Phou Si, which is located on top of a hill. You are meant to go there to watch the sun set over the Mekong. So we did! We were almost a little bit too late, but also managed to share the view with approximately 100 other tourists! It was so busy and I didn't enjoy it at all really... but the pics came out wonderfully. After the sunset, Tom, Phil and I set off in search of the Buddha caves and Buddha's footprint which could also be found on the hill. We searched for a long time and found lots of great statues, we found the caves (shut) and after some more investigating, we finally found Buddha's footprint.
To be honest, it wasn't what we expected. There's a little hut made out of stone with the tiniest hole to crawl through. Then you stand at the edge of an abyss, which is the footprint (the size of a giant). It looked a bit strange and we weren't entirely convinced Buddha actually went and made that footprint. It was really dark in that hut, too so we had to go in one by one and hold a lighter up...
We also went to a Temple Party on our first night! It was temple party season and basically people congregate at their local temple and get drunk. We heard lots of good stuff about it and our Guesthouse Mama recommended us to go, so we did.
Hmmm. Interesting. It wasn't the mad rave we expected, but basically a few people getting drunk while a guy was doing bad karaoke. Kind of like your average english pub scene only in a temple. The poor monks were walking around and clearing up. The entertainment on offer was petanque or 'Pop the Balloon' with a dart. All the boys had a go and none managed to burst three in a row, so we missed out on the main prize - a jar of pickled eggs. Yum yum...
We did have a good few beers though - Beer Lao!!!! Very cheap! And tasty! Only 30p for a big bottle! Yay!
During the course of the evening, Phil also got checked out by a couple of Lady boys. Well, not just visually if you catch my drift. All he wanted was to buy a round, but instead he got whisked away by some very determined Lao 'Ladies'. It was very funny, because at the end of the night, Matt got a ride on a scooter back to our place and he told us he too got 'checked out' by the driver! So the boys did really well, while us girls had a quiet night, heheheh.
posted by Phil and Tanja @ 2:01 AM
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