Luang Phabang, Laos

Wednesday to Friday, 22 - 24 November 2006

Luang Phabang was the ancient capital of Laos and has been described as the "most Lao city in Laos" (?). Laos was a French colony for the first half of the 20th century and, in addition to Buddhist temples, there is alot of Parisian-style cafes, restaurants and baguette stalls in the city. French expats frequent these and we hear a few outraged "le cappucino est merde!" and the like. It's a sleepy place, the people are friendly and we hear from veteran tourists that Laos reminds them of Thailand 20 years ago.

Keeping to our quota of one temple a week, we visit the Wat Xiang Thong temple and do the climb to the top of Phou Si ("sacred hill") for a view over the small city. There is also a decent, if touristy, market at the end of the Xiang Thong street.

It has dawned on us that we are running out of time so we only spend a day and a half here. The plan is to spend Christmas in Thailand (not that there will be much more chance of getting roast turkey and brussels sprouts or RTE re-runs of Willy Wonka there!). This has left us with about a month to see Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia - nowhere near enough time! Originally we were going to go next to Viang Vieng for a couple of days. The main draw there is that you can do "tubing" (hiring inflated inner tubes the size of tractor tyres and floating down a river while stopping off at bars on the riverside). Dara's horrific moped injuries (elbow and ankle scratches) are still a bit raw (we have consulted NetDoctor on the symptoms of leprosy and gangrene and can rule these out, but the intensive elastoplast and Savlon therapy has yet to produce results). For fear of said elbow and ankle deciding to part ways with Dara during the tubing we decide to give it a skip and go straight to Phonsavan, site of the Plain of the Jars.

To see more photos of Luang Phabang click here.