Slow Boat to Luang Prabang, Laos

Tuesday, February12, 2013 - Lincoln's Birthday

Day 4: Luang Prabang

Meals included: 1 breakfast

Activities:

​We continue on our private slow boat on our journey down the Mekong River, gaining more insights into local rural life along the way. 

Just before arriving at Luang Prabang we stop at Pak Ou (meaning 'mouth of the Ou River'), where the famous Tam Ting Cave houses thousands of Buddha images of various shapes and sizes, all brought there by devoted villagers. 

We also stop at the village of Ban Sang Hai, where they make the potent local rice-wine. Our travel time will vary greatly, depending on the water levels, but we hope to arrive in Luang Prabang in the early evening. This beautiful town, with its gleaming temple roofs, fading French architecture and stunning mountain backdrop, has been claimed by UNESCO to be 'the best preserved city in South East Asia'.

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We arrived at our guest house last night (Monday, February 11) in the little village of Pak Beng on the Mekong River about 5:00 pm.  A small group of young boys were waiting on the steep incline to the muddy shore for the boat to arrive.  For 10,000 kip = $1.25/ per bag, the boys would lug our bags up the steep incline and to the village guesthouse. 

Some of these children, some looking younger than ten would take the smaller bags.  Most of these boys were already not attending school and working to help support their families.  The families along the Mekong live very simply without a lot of material goods and with shack or thatched roof shelters, many without electricity or running water.

The night markets in the villages are often second jobs for families who have worked in their farming areas during the day.  Goods and services are very inexpensive for us travelers, but that also translates into poor wages for the locals.  We all could have rolled our own luggage into the village, but decided it would be a good thing not to disappoint these eager young boys.

Mark, Eva, Joyce, Roz, Dennis, Aaron, Jan, Russ, Moh

Our guest house was clean and modest, run by a young couple who had recently married and renovated an older establishment.  We freshened up and walked from the guest house to the village for dinner.  Our guide took us to a restaurant where we enjoyed minced meat ((chicken, beef, pork, or fish) stir fry with lemon and spices, sticky rice and steamed vegetables.  It was delicious.  we also enjoyed our evening with our Laotian guide who lives with his family in Luang Prabang.  He is 36 years old, a former Buddhist monk, now with 4 of his own children, and two of his younger siblings who he cares for since his parents both recently died.  He himself is from a family of 10 children.

The Laotian culture is much like the culture of Fiji and some of the Pacific islands where caring for your elderly parents keeps families close knit and living under one roof or in close proximity of one a other.  Roles of Mother, Father, Auntie, Uncle are shared and mixed.  It is not uncommon for a couple to give their baby to a sibling to raise.  Everyone shares care responsibility for the young.  With as little as people have, they seem happy and content.

Eighty percent of the country is "Buddhist", even though all do not actively practice Buddhism, they try to follow Buddhist principles.

Today, Tuesday, Feb 12, 

We awoke to a cool mist hugging the trees and the river valley.  We could see some elephants being bathed by their driver on the opposite bank of the river, the same river that swells high up the banks during the flood season, provides four hundred species of fish for catching and eating, water to pan gold, irrigate small peanut farms on sandy dunes, wash clothes in, dump sewage in.

Every guest house and hotel provide bottled water for tourists.  I don't know what the locals drink on a regular basis, but it may be collected rain water.  Hopefully it is not the river water.

After breakfast of omelette, bread and thick Lao coffee, we trek down to the river and re-board our boat.  We snuggle up in blankets as it is on the chilly side.

Neighboring boat says goodbye

It is 11:00 a.m. and the mist in the valley has burnt off.  It's time to shed the blankets and jackets.We have another authentic Lao cooked lunch of chicken, rice, vegetables, soup, and fresh watermelon. 

First Mate and Chef, Lao Guide Tui on Right

The river slips by as the afternoon sun begins to dip behind the mountains.  We make two more stops before reaching Luang Probang.

Tam Ting Caves

 
 The first stop was to the Tam Ting Caves high above the river where there is a Buddhist Temple and shrine.  Worshippers bring Buddhas and add to the collection.  There are several hundreds placed around the cave alcoves.  It is now quite warm and humid.  By the time we reach the top of the many stairs in the upper cave, we are ready to feel our way with torches into the dark and cool cavern.

Once again we are on the river for another 15 minutes before stopping in Ban Sang Hai where the locals make a potent rice whiskey.  We had a taste.  It was pretty good, but then neither of us really drink whiskey so we aren't the best judges.. The most interesting bottle had a pickled cobra with a snake in its mouth.

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In addition to the 400 year old distillery, there is a well maintained Buddhist temple and several women who weave and embroider wall hangings, blankets, table cloths and table runners.  We bought three items and took a photo of each of the artists.

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When we finished our visit we only had about a half hour more on the boat before thanking our boat captain and his wife for the leisurely two days floating/motoring down the Mekong.

We disembarked, hauled our luggage up the hill to the tuktuks, wound our way through the city to a small guest house, unloaded all of the luggage and entered the lobby only to find out we were in the wrong hotel.  Ok!  glad our guide speaks  Thai and Laotian as she was able to get it figured out.  Each time she has taken a trip, different boats and hotels are used.

We loaded our luggage back on the tuktuks and reached the second and correct hotel.  it looked  little more upscale than the first one.  We have a king sized bed, air conditioning, television and Wifi!  Whoo Hoo!  Think I can get these blogs sent out.

We will be exploring Luang Probang tomorrow and spending two nights in one place.  We'll be doing some laundry tonight, yeah!

All is well with the Worrall Travel R's