Laos II

From Vang Vieng I bussed to Luang Prabang, an old French provincial town and former Royal Capital marketing itself as the jewel of the Mekong - and it is hard to disagree (having extensively travelled the grand river ... well I have been to Vientiane). Laung Prabang is set at the intersection of the Mekong and its Khan tributary with the beautiful Laotian countryside as a backdrop, The town is full of old French colonial architecture, bookshops, cafe's + bakeries, outdoor boules courts, classic Mercs, pristine retro scooters, outdoor billiards and locals who don't know whether they would prefer to sell you something or sleep - a seemingly effortless integration of European and Buddhist Asian charm. UNESCO world heritage listing ensures that the only development in the town centre is in a strict restorative vein and the only place allowed to be open after 12 is the bowling alley located out of town. I could spend a long time in this place.

Unfortunately scooter rentals are banned in Laung Prabang so I had to use my legs like a sucker - While cycling out of town in a village I chanced upon a group of local lads who were keen to test this pharang (Foreigner) out. Their English was only very slightly better than my Lao so the evening was reduced to them loading me up with home made Lao Lao and smiling as i winced ... eventually i noticed the bottle was almost empty and the food was coming out, I thought salvation had come in two forms - unfortunately i was wrong on both counts - the food was whole pickled garlic and chicken foetuses (I had seen these along with rats, bats, frogs all kinds of innards and plenty of flies at the local markets, so i guessed it was edible and crunched my way through) ... then they refilled the Lao Lao bottle. The only graceful exit i could think of was to offer to buy some local beer, thankfully they thought it was a good idea and the night progressed at a more reasonable pace. Somewhere along the line a Laotian who could speak a bit more English turned up allowing conversation to be squeezed out and eventually offered to tow me home on the motorbike ... I wisely accepted, after all, how much damage can you do in a bike crash?

I ended up spending much of my time in Laung Prabang with these locals, playing soccer, watching the champions league final and heading to the local waterfall. If only the Laotians could fix their roads I would be convinced that the waterfall was a joint construct of the Laung Prabang council and the Disney fairytale division - a stunning multi step waterfall forming alluring azure pools every few meters - with warm weather and few tourists (at least in the morning) the caged tiger and bears were a mere distraction.