We left Luang Prabang just after 1100 hours in two minibuses for a journey of seven hours. From the start and for five hours it either rained or was so misty that nothing of the scenery could be seen, and this was supposed to be one of the prettier parts of the country. Most of the journey was travelling over mountains then down the other side with snatches of high mountains to be seen through the mist. We arrived at a flash looking hotel, Yes it was a mistake, and were then taken to an annex of the Thavisouk which appeared to have been opened specially for us as it was being painted through with bits of wire hanging in places having been closed for what is the low season here. I suppose that eight twin or double rooms at £2 per night per person was worth opening for. That's all Madventure was paying for us out of the money we had given them, and we still had to pay for all meals. It rained continually for most of the four days we were here as well.
The local transport mainly consisted of personnal scooters as there were so many around. When the sun was hot and when it rained the driver invariably held an umbrella over his or her self to keep of the elements while continuing to drive. They did not drive that fast either. There did not appear to be piles of rubbish or plastic bottles and bags lying about the place, it looked to be quite clean.
Vang Vieng is two parallel streets with connecting lanes between them. There are not many tourists around and those that come here come for the ‘tubing’, wearing an inner tube and floating down the river while stopping now and then to drink shots or cocktails from a bucket. The tourist part of town is nothing but bars and eating places with the odd shop thrown in selling wet weather clothes and swimming gear, good business at the moment. On entering most of the shops and bars one has to take off one's shoes at the door with a lot of the premises having tiled floors. What a weird thing to notice! The bars have buckets of cocktails for £2 a go, the bucket being the same size or a little bigger than a child would take down to the beach to play in the sand with. Most bars have a television going with Friends or The Simpsons showing all day and to accompany that they will also have music blaring out and a film showing at the same time. It has the ubiquitous Irish and Aussie bar as seen everywhere! Somehow I am showing it not to be the best of places and definitely one I would never want to visit again yet I enjoyed walking around and have spent hours wandering about looking at the three of the five temples that are in the area, talking to the monks and to any of the local people who wanted to practise their English. I recommend eating at the Luang Prabang Restaurant and Bakery and the Chaleun Gardens Restaurant Both had good food at a reasonable price, pleasant staff and clean toilets.
Wat Kang
Savangkang Wat
Sisouvanh Wat
The local transport mainly consisted of personnal scooters as there were so many around. When the sun was hot and when it rained the driver invariably held an umbrella over his or her self to keep of the elements while continuing to drive. They did not drive that fast either. There did not appear to be piles of rubbish or plastic bottles and bags lying about the place, it looked to be quite clean.
Vang Vieng is two parallel streets with connecting lanes between them. There are not many tourists around and those that come here come for the ‘tubing’, wearing an inner tube and floating down the river while stopping now and then to drink shots or cocktails from a bucket. The tourist part of town is nothing but bars and eating places with the odd shop thrown in selling wet weather clothes and swimming gear, good business at the moment. On entering most of the shops and bars one has to take off one's shoes at the door with a lot of the premises having tiled floors. What a weird thing to notice! The bars have buckets of cocktails for £2 a go, the bucket being the same size or a little bigger than a child would take down to the beach to play in the sand with. Most bars have a television going with Friends or The Simpsons showing all day and to accompany that they will also have music blaring out and a film showing at the same time. It has the ubiquitous Irish and Aussie bar as seen everywhere! Somehow I am showing it not to be the best of places and definitely one I would never want to visit again yet I enjoyed walking around and have spent hours wandering about looking at the three of the five temples that are in the area, talking to the monks and to any of the local people who wanted to practise their English. I recommend eating at the Luang Prabang Restaurant and Bakery and the Chaleun Gardens Restaurant Both had good food at a reasonable price, pleasant staff and clean toilets.
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| The Chaleun Gardens Restaurant |
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| Riding in the rain |
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| Female monks walking down the street |
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| The main street |
Wat Kang
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| Monks plus cats |
Savangkang Wat
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| A sleeping monk |
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| The men were tracing out and cutting shapes from a design on a laptop so as to paint the ceiling as shown in the photograph above |
Sisouvanh Wat
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ReplyDeleteAshwin