I left my heart/ in Luang Prabang township
Published Tuesday, March 28, 2006 by Carolyne | E-mail this post
It is a wonderful place!
Even as I write this, I have a heavy head cold and am stuffling and snorting, but I don't care. (Of course if I was sharing a room with the wonderful Rad, this wouldn't happen, as we both like to roast, whereas bob has the air conditioning at sub-artic temperatures).
yesterday was a day to die for. We rented a couple of clapped out Gary Fisher MTB's and rode to the kuangci waterfall. It was the most spectacular day, the countryside was pretty, although no photo could do it justice. However it was the people that made it so special. Cycling through undulating countryside on a well graded dirt road that serviced many villages, we passed many young teak plantations, groves of bananas, rice paddies and lush vegetable plots.
however everybody was so friendly, whether we shared a language or not. Young children, often naked from the waist down would run out to smile and wave, and giggle and laugh with wonderful abandon. Young cyclists heading into he other direction would call out a cheery Sabadee! As they held out their hands to high five me as we passed in the opposite direction. It was absolutely delightful, and including stops to buy water and chat to locals took about 2 hours to cycle to the waterfall.
We had to pay an enrance fee here of 10,000 kip each, but it was certainly worth it. A well maintained, natural trail wound it's way around a series of swimming ponds and cascading waterfalls, although very similar in many ways to far north Queensland, it was quite beautiful. At the main waterfall a series of picnic tables were being set up with an elaborate feast of food for lunch for one of the catered tour groups. Despite this, there were not many people beyond the rim of this pool, although the monks around proved to be as technologically savvy as they are commercially competant at shopping, snapping away on a series of sophisticated digital cameras.
We climbed up to the next waterfall, past a man sweeping the clay trail of leaves leaving a good surface to walk on. A very hard job to do day in day out. Climbing under a tree along the way, this was a lovely pool and view over the cascading water below.
A further track led up to another pond, hoverer this was a strenuous climb requiring 'hands and heels' and was about a gradient of about 1 in 3 for much of the 100 m climb. (Gadget girl to the rescue). This was a peaceful and deserted place, in which Bob paddled around in his Keen Sandals (Thank you so much Wild Thing for your recommendation, they have been magnificent!), whilst I enjoyed the peace and the view of the ubiguous hammock on the other side. Many small fish swam in the pools, no doubt about to be washed away when the rains came.
Bob swam under the waterfall on the next level, about 100m down, and I chatted to a friendly Thai tourist who was also enjoying the view. I am embarrassed that English is the lingua franca everywhere, there are tourists around, however they are a quiet respectful lot, from Israel, Holland, Denmark, Japan, France, Thailand, Britain and the US, English is the method of communication among all. I wish I was a better linguist!
Some much needed water, and a few steamed dumplings (Salaa Pao) meat and pineapple, and we were on our way out of the area where stands had been set up to accommodate the lunchtime and afternoon tourists who travel here by jumbo, a bus on the pack of a small ute, and we rode 4 kms down the road to the nearest Wat / ban (temple and it's attached village) for a simple noodle soup lunch. Then more of the same as we traversed the track back to the town, with many Sabadee! calls in reply to those of everyone we saw en route, our exaggerated bows and broad grins when cycling up a few of the steep sharp inclines where we could not call out or lift our hands to wave.
Again, about two hours back, even though it was now the heat of the day. My throat had been dry and scratchy when I woke, and had not improved, but it was a wonderful trip. We continued to ride around the peninsula of the town, past much French Colonial architecture and in a delightful setting for noodle shops and cafes, before returning our bikes. Both of our bums were sore! (but happy!), something of a feature of this trip after two days spent sitting on the slow boat on hard, wooden planks. Lucky I have so much padding!
MY sniffles started to get worse as we attempted to transfer the memory card to CD, collected laundry (the travellers lament), and had a simple meal of local river fish in a red curry sauce, fish in a spicy eggplant and chilli sauce, vegetables and rice. Although early, my head cold had exerted it's full force now, and we had an early night, where I snore so loudly as to wake the dead (alledgedly), and realised during the night that the running gear I had so excitedly lain out the night before would not been used this morning.
On Sunday night, as we wandered after dinner, we came across a giant carnival, a version of the rural shows held all around Australia. Lots of junky stalls, lots of excited kids and teenagers, and a large inflatable slide which was proving a huge hit with the kids. Amongst the stalls selling (very popular) photo stickers and clothes, was one selling knock off shoes. I had found one reasonable pair of suitable shoes in a camping shop, however there were only two pairs in sie 45 . . . Too big for my fat feet. They kept insisting that other cute looking shoes were good too - but as they were specialist monuntian slimbing and hiking boots, I declined. The Adidas/Nike 'running' shoes were not great quality, and negotiation was a hassle, but I ended up with a pair porporting to be adidas (hah!), with rather too stiff a sole, for around $15 australian. Another stall proided a pair of simple socks for less than a dollar. They do not provide much cushioning, but will be OK for short jaunts of 4 or 5 kms. Unfortunately, we left too early to cycle to the falls on monday, and the head cold stopped me this morning. nevertheless, I hope to put them to the test, maybe late this afternoon.
Today, the national museum in the old imperial palace, maybe a ay or two, and a fancy dinner in a restaurant with laotian and luang Prabang specialities, such as fried river algee. Mmmm, algee.
A herbal steam sauna probably wouldn't hurt my snoz either!
until later.
******************************************************************
http://www.tadfane.com/_home.htm
********************************************************************
Even as I write this, I have a heavy head cold and am stuffling and snorting, but I don't care. (Of course if I was sharing a room with the wonderful Rad, this wouldn't happen, as we both like to roast, whereas bob has the air conditioning at sub-artic temperatures).
yesterday was a day to die for. We rented a couple of clapped out Gary Fisher MTB's and rode to the kuangci waterfall. It was the most spectacular day, the countryside was pretty, although no photo could do it justice. However it was the people that made it so special. Cycling through undulating countryside on a well graded dirt road that serviced many villages, we passed many young teak plantations, groves of bananas, rice paddies and lush vegetable plots.
however everybody was so friendly, whether we shared a language or not. Young children, often naked from the waist down would run out to smile and wave, and giggle and laugh with wonderful abandon. Young cyclists heading into he other direction would call out a cheery Sabadee! As they held out their hands to high five me as we passed in the opposite direction. It was absolutely delightful, and including stops to buy water and chat to locals took about 2 hours to cycle to the waterfall.
We had to pay an enrance fee here of 10,000 kip each, but it was certainly worth it. A well maintained, natural trail wound it's way around a series of swimming ponds and cascading waterfalls, although very similar in many ways to far north Queensland, it was quite beautiful. At the main waterfall a series of picnic tables were being set up with an elaborate feast of food for lunch for one of the catered tour groups. Despite this, there were not many people beyond the rim of this pool, although the monks around proved to be as technologically savvy as they are commercially competant at shopping, snapping away on a series of sophisticated digital cameras.
We climbed up to the next waterfall, past a man sweeping the clay trail of leaves leaving a good surface to walk on. A very hard job to do day in day out. Climbing under a tree along the way, this was a lovely pool and view over the cascading water below.
A further track led up to another pond, hoverer this was a strenuous climb requiring 'hands and heels' and was about a gradient of about 1 in 3 for much of the 100 m climb. (Gadget girl to the rescue). This was a peaceful and deserted place, in which Bob paddled around in his Keen Sandals (Thank you so much Wild Thing for your recommendation, they have been magnificent!), whilst I enjoyed the peace and the view of the ubiguous hammock on the other side. Many small fish swam in the pools, no doubt about to be washed away when the rains came.
Bob swam under the waterfall on the next level, about 100m down, and I chatted to a friendly Thai tourist who was also enjoying the view. I am embarrassed that English is the lingua franca everywhere, there are tourists around, however they are a quiet respectful lot, from Israel, Holland, Denmark, Japan, France, Thailand, Britain and the US, English is the method of communication among all. I wish I was a better linguist!
Some much needed water, and a few steamed dumplings (Salaa Pao) meat and pineapple, and we were on our way out of the area where stands had been set up to accommodate the lunchtime and afternoon tourists who travel here by jumbo, a bus on the pack of a small ute, and we rode 4 kms down the road to the nearest Wat / ban (temple and it's attached village) for a simple noodle soup lunch. Then more of the same as we traversed the track back to the town, with many Sabadee! calls in reply to those of everyone we saw en route, our exaggerated bows and broad grins when cycling up a few of the steep sharp inclines where we could not call out or lift our hands to wave.
Again, about two hours back, even though it was now the heat of the day. My throat had been dry and scratchy when I woke, and had not improved, but it was a wonderful trip. We continued to ride around the peninsula of the town, past much French Colonial architecture and in a delightful setting for noodle shops and cafes, before returning our bikes. Both of our bums were sore! (but happy!), something of a feature of this trip after two days spent sitting on the slow boat on hard, wooden planks. Lucky I have so much padding!
MY sniffles started to get worse as we attempted to transfer the memory card to CD, collected laundry (the travellers lament), and had a simple meal of local river fish in a red curry sauce, fish in a spicy eggplant and chilli sauce, vegetables and rice. Although early, my head cold had exerted it's full force now, and we had an early night, where I snore so loudly as to wake the dead (alledgedly), and realised during the night that the running gear I had so excitedly lain out the night before would not been used this morning.
On Sunday night, as we wandered after dinner, we came across a giant carnival, a version of the rural shows held all around Australia. Lots of junky stalls, lots of excited kids and teenagers, and a large inflatable slide which was proving a huge hit with the kids. Amongst the stalls selling (very popular) photo stickers and clothes, was one selling knock off shoes. I had found one reasonable pair of suitable shoes in a camping shop, however there were only two pairs in sie 45 . . . Too big for my fat feet. They kept insisting that other cute looking shoes were good too - but as they were specialist monuntian slimbing and hiking boots, I declined. The Adidas/Nike 'running' shoes were not great quality, and negotiation was a hassle, but I ended up with a pair porporting to be adidas (hah!), with rather too stiff a sole, for around $15 australian. Another stall proided a pair of simple socks for less than a dollar. They do not provide much cushioning, but will be OK for short jaunts of 4 or 5 kms. Unfortunately, we left too early to cycle to the falls on monday, and the head cold stopped me this morning. nevertheless, I hope to put them to the test, maybe late this afternoon.
Today, the national museum in the old imperial palace, maybe a ay or two, and a fancy dinner in a restaurant with laotian and luang Prabang specialities, such as fried river algee. Mmmm, algee.
A herbal steam sauna probably wouldn't hurt my snoz either!
until later.
******************************************************************
http://www.tadfane.com/_home.htm
********************************************************************
"Mmmm, algee."
Noice.
LOL. :)