Possibly the only country in the world left that could make Cambodia seem civilized! Well, not if you start your tour in the stunning riverside town of Luang Prabang. A seriously sleepy second capital, my introduction to Laos was an unhassled exit from the airport – no touts or amateur entrepreneurs. I jumped into a truck (they call them tuk tuks here) with 2 American girls working in Siem Reap and we drove into town – of course with a stop at the driver’s shack to pick up additional passengers, but they were his two adorable kids so we didn’t mind! Then we rolled into the ‘Oxford Street’ of LP- population roughly 8 with the odd push bike! I followed the girls as we tried to hunt down their various recommendations and settled on a cute wooden treehouse of a hotel and wearily dumped my bags. After enjoying a rainforest shower I headed off to explore – read find the nearest Beer Lao. I followed the signs to a promising bar, off the main road, down an alley, through a stilt village, over some chickens until I emerged in…Utopia! Seriously this garden bar was tastefully decorated with Asian-influenced Buddha statues, alongside the odd recovered bomb shell, but the gem was the open fronted deck that spilled out over the Mekong with stretching views of the river on either side. Nothing to stop you plummeting a couple of hundred feet if you went too far with the lao ao cocktails!
After a refreshing fresh coconut I headed for the famous night market, a 500m or so strip that takes over the centre of town every night, with tens of locals selling their locally produced handicrafts. It is very colourful and relaxed – nothing like the souks of Egypt or the pressure selling in other Asian countries. I bought a new travel journal as I nearly finished the beautiful book given to me when I left London over a year ago – thanks Dorota!
I stop for another Beer Lao pitstop before diving into the food stalls – unfortunately like everything else here it is watered down for the tourist so I am all the more keen to delve into the real Laos. As it is Halloween tonight, the two bars in town are hosting costumed parties – stretching the 11pm curfew to 1am. I stake out my spot and the bar and chat away to a super friendly Mancunian, Wesley. We meet another nice-seeming Irish couple and decide to go Utopia on my recommendation. So I lead them off and introduce myself to the Irish boyfriend, offering my hand and my name – warning flags then start to go up as he grips in tightly and squints at me through narrowed eyes. A few paces further and he calls out to his girlfriend and demands to know where we’re taking him and why Wesley isn’t leading anymore since he was ‘blazing trails’ before. His Skunk addition kicking in, he turns bi-polar and scarpers with his girlf in tow apologizing profusely! Turns out he was grilling Wes on who I was and how long he’s known me – of course, I am a particularly dodgy looking gal, right!!
The next morning, once I figured out where the hell I was, I headed out for another Challenge Anneka moment of seeing the entire city in 3 hours – there are A LOT of Wats! I hiked up Wat Phousi, a 100m hill to see the lovely pagodas and Buddha statues, even an imprint of the Buddha’s footprint! The Royal Palace throne room was ornately decorated and I snacked on deliciously sweet coconut dumplings – definitely my favourite Laotian food.
By 1pm I was back at the hotel ready for a trip to the Kuangsi Waterfalls, 35km out of town. The road was scenic with precarious bridges and tight mountain curves, I barely held onto my stomach but reaching the waterfalls was thoroughly worth it. The falls consisted of several pools, most suitable for swimming if you could brave the freezing water, but the real draw came at the top with a mammoth cascade of water dropping some 100m down the mountain. I hiked to the top where a flimsy plank of wood prevented you from the deadly dive down. Then I stupidly decided to follow the sign into the forest for the cave, 3km away. Off I trotted and after 20 minutes emerged on a road, to be confronted with a truck of police aiming their 6meter long rifles at a farmer. They stared at me staring at them, trying to decide how best to style this out, before I did a runner…funnily I never found the caves, but did manage to end up trekking in the forest with various gun toting teenagers shooting at god knows what! Last time I think that is a good idea!
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