Blog 6 Mekong River

We are currently cruising up the Mekong river on our way to the Pak Ou caves. Our boat is a typical long skinny thing designed to take about 10 people. The river is about 400m wide and the muddy waters hide numerous limestone shoals. Frances and I have chartered the boat after a morning spent checking out tours and tour operators.

Yesterday was a marathon 10 hour bus ride to cover the 290km from Lunag Namtha to here at luang Prabang, the old capital of Laos. Most of the journey was in the 150kms of mountains in the middle on a road that while nominally sealed had more pot holes than bitumen. Despite the girl next to me being sick the whole time and the usual overcrowding it was interesting trip. Just as well as there was little alternative as there are no flights between the two cities.
Luang Prabang was an unexpected delight. The night market was in full swing and the main street was lined with small stalls selling quality handicrafts while the side streets had great food stalls. It was clean, car free, well lit and delightful. It made us realise that the travel up north had been relatively hard.

Well Luang Prabang is very relaxing. The French colonial influence is still stong anter 32 years of communist control and there are restaurants selling great coffee and baguettes as well as many restaurants selling local Laos food. Accommodation is excellent with clean quiet rooms, good mattresses and crispy sheets. Definitely a step up from some nights in the north.
Tomorrow we are off on a two day mahout course. A mahoot is an elephant driver/trainer and we are looking forward to taking the controls on the elephants neck. Tonight we are hoping to go to a local “ballet” of traditional dance. I like these occassional days off when we can sit back and relax after a couple of weeks of constant travel.