Tuesday, 22 October 2013

We are sailing

I am currently writing this sat on a boat cruising up the Mekong river to the Thai border. I am not sure if we will make it to Thailand tonight but fingers crossed, nothing booked and no expectations. So let's catch up.

Luang Prabang is amazing, so beautiful, every way you turn is another postcard shot. From the golden pagodas contacted by the bright orange gowns of the young monks to the palm trees reaching out over the Mekong River and the the jungled mountain side back drop. Just stunning. Our first day was a lazy day as most first days are, just sauntering around taking pictures. Luang Prabang is a quite a compact town so you end up bumping into people you recognise. We met 3 groups from different hostels that we were talking to on the plane, it creates a really relaxed, friendly atmosphere. 

We visited an amazing waterfall, when you arrive you walk up past a bear sanctuary before reaching the swimming area. Here is a smaller waterfall you get to jump or dive from into a lovely pool. There is also a rope swing for a more unconventional entry. There was on point where a Chinese girl was going for a swing, it is quite intimidating up there and, understandably, she paused for a long time building up confidence to make the leap. This drew a bit of attention and before you know it she had a pretty large audience. Every time she bent her knees to jump but pulled out you could feel the anticipation building. Finally she launched herself off the tree to loud cheers from the engrossed crowd but the cheers suddenly turned to worry as she failed to let go and was quickly swinging back to where she'd launched from and the rocks below. We collectively took a breath of concern, but she held on and was swinging out again. Impromptu chants from the swelling crowd of drop, drop were echoing around the pool as the rope ran out of momentum and she was left hanging like a bucket about to be dropped into a well before finally letting go of the rope and plunging into the water. As she resurfaced alive she did so to a rapturous round of applause and cheering. Sadly, the poor German man who back flipped of a waterfall before following it up with a very impressive somersault from a rope swing was greeted with silence, no one batted an eye lid, bloody show off!

After our cooling swim we headed onwards and upwards, we didn't realise what was coming. After plenty of small turquoise lagoons being loaded by their own little water fall we rounded a corner only to look up and see a magnificent waterfall, casually eroding the rocks below with immense success. With a typically Laos lack of healthy and safety, beside the waterfall was a loosely worn mud track enabling you to climb to the top, I'd guess it's around 100 metres. Apart from the leeches it was easy going up but once there you are quickly reminded that waterfalls always look better from the bottom. After a hairy climb down again, flip flops aren't ideal, we were leaving this wonderful piece of nature behind.

On the Sunday night the town put on a farewell festival for us. Other people said the festival was to mark the end of rainy season and to thanks the water gods for the Mekong river and all the prosperity it brings. Also to apologise for misusing the water, I knew the real reason behind it. The festival in the evening was a spectacular event and we are so lucky to have been there for it. All the boats that we have witnessed being built all week are lit up and paraded through the streets before being cast away in the water. The boats were stuffed with food and money as an offering and a thank you to the gods. I am not sure if the gods ever receive the offerings, I think there is a little man waiting around the corner with a fishing rod reeling the boats in and helping himself to everything on board, but that's just the sceptic in me! The atmosphere was buzzing as tourists and locals alike joined in the celebrations, floating candles in homemade mini rafts, lighting lanterns with various degrees of success. I would imagine looking up to see if your under a tree before lighting a lantern would be a prerequisite, but it turns out that not the case. As the evening celebrations were dying down we saw a crazy man dancing in the street who invited us to join his family in celebrating, I firmly believe it is unlucky not to do what a crazy man dancing in the street invites you to do so we sat with them. They didn't really speak too much English so the conversation wasn't flowing but the home made rice spirit definitely was. An hour or so of drinking we were lucky that the police arrived to enforce the curfew and shut the party down so we had the chance to flee and stumble back to our hostel. It was such a privilege to get the opportunity to sit and enjoy the company of some locals on such a day, I even got to take part in some crazy dancing on the street with my new friend.

After a night of rice spirit fuelled shenanigans we were off at 7am the next morning, needless to say I wasn't feeling my best. The first 9 hours on the boat before getting to Pak Beng were spent sleeping and eating. Once again we are being treated to nature at its finest, the river and jungle, this is how people have been travelling up and down the mighty Mekong for centuries, looking around outside you can imagine it hasn't changed for millions of years, right now I could be anywhere in time. Well, the iPad on my lap gives away that it is definitely post 2012, but apart from that there could be dinosaurs over the hills!

I guess that's it for now, overall loved Luang Prabang, Thailand I am not too excited by but I hope it will surprise me, fingers crossed.

Extra; Kinga's reason for not going into the National Muesum in Luang Prabang "it's just a bunch of stuff". I think that's the concept of a museum!

No comments: