On the last night in Luang Prabang we set out to have a tea of Pizza, in a recommended place. It was good. WE then returned to our room to pack. This is always a quiet activity with a certain amount of tension. It takes very little time really but sometimes we are slower than others. That night, Saturday, we were going to change our normal route and find the bar mentioned by Ivor, who we had met on the boat in Halong Bay, Vietnam. It was going to show the Villa match and I would be able to read in peace! Their slogan was, 'drink like a fish for the price of water!'. It was cheaper than the high street too, a point worth noting. We had scored a major victory at the internet cafe as the guy in charge, once he heard about the virus on the computer memory card had said let me have a look. We were to go back after 5pm. I was not hopeful as we had been told in Cambodia that the pictures were lost. This genius, uploaded them and put them onto a disc for me. I was, ' over the moon.' I wanted to text everyone to say that I had got my pictures back but the telephones will not send messages from Laos. Technology is both wonderful and totally exasperating!!
We went to the opposite end of the High Street and headed towards the Mekong River. Some youngsters had just arrived loaded up to-the nines. They were looking for a place to stay. We pointed the ATM out to them and the direction of loads of guesthouses. They went happily on their way. It was pitch black at first but then we discovered a whole new part of the town. There was a fabulous pub garden and loads of youngsters were having a happy chat in the coloured lights. The atmosphere was electric. We had not investigated this road before. There was a great atmosphere and we relaxed, for once, with our drinks not feeling that we should order food as we had in the many restaurants. Lee even had a game of pool with Ivan as his team mate.
We woke with the phone alarm at 7 and we were sitting on the steps, waiting for the mini-bus, at 8.30. By 8.40 we were on our way to the middle of Laos. As we drove off I caught sight of the start of a cock fight, on the banks of the river. A few men were standing idly around watching. It was the only bad image I had of Luang Prabang. I shuddered.
The journey to Vang Vien was supposed to take four hours, we were told. It was six and a half, but the scenery was wonderful. The mini-bus moved smoothly up the mountain roads dodging cows, goats and ..yes...the inevitable hens. Within an hour we were snaking our way around endless hair-pin bends and through the regular villages of shabby wooden or raffia walled huts that clung mysteriously to the sides of the road, surrounded by sheer drops. At one point the cloud lay in one of these sheer drops like a lake far below us. The banana plant silhouetted against the skyline like wind turbines, the lush green vegetation in shades of bright green contrasting sharply with the bright red sanstone that reminded me of Ayers Rock, in Australia. Tall pampass grasses waved feathery fronds of lilac pink in the breeze. At the side of the road stalls were piled high with oranges, bananas, potatoes and onions. We bought small oranges when the driver stopped to get some. The lady pointed across the road to indicate that she had picked them earlier that morning from the trees we were now staring at. They were sweet and juicy and very cheap, 25p for about 20!
As we started off again a troupe of young children came up the slope carrying huge baskets on their backs full of some kind of vegetation. At the next village these leaveswere being woven into green roof panels. These were also laid out on the side of the road for purchase. I wondered who came to buy these goods, but come they must or there would be no point in setting up the stalls. On the floor nearby two men were weaving fabulous raffia wall panels for the creation of homes. They would be nailed onto a wooden frame. They seemed amazingly flimsy but did the job they were designed for, nevertheless, and the patterns on them were very pleasing to the eye. In fact, nature did her bit too, as everywhere the eye looked there were patterns from the vegetation to the frequent, dense spider webs on the sandstone, like the fishing nets on the river.
In the villages there seemed to be many children playing in the dust or climbing trees, men clustered around a repair, women were sitting in groups or hand washing clothes under taps. Each doorway showed a myriad of eyes watching from the dark, cool insides. Pigs, goats, puppies and chickens with tiny chicks in tow seemed to roam everywhere.
On one particularly steep bend I was really surprised to see a full sized coach go by. I glimpsed a seas of faces inside, a mountain of luggage on the top, and then, on top of the luggage were some peole sitting on the top! I did not fancy their view of the road especially since the sheer drop was their side!
At the first stop we parked beside a colourful series of food stalls. There were roast sweet potatoes, whole pineapples, bananas and papayas for fruit smoothies. Chicken feet marinated in some sauce were fixed to a stick as were a series of chicken hearts. We had a french stick made up with white chicken meat, onion, cucumber and tomatoes. It was then wrapped in cling film.
A Thai tour bus parked up and the women struck up a conversation with us. They were on their way to Bankok. One looked at our sandwich and, after checking whether it was just for me, gave us a cunk of the fish that she was eating. It was delicious. She was saying that the sandwhich was too fattening that the fish was better. I agreed. It was delicious.They waved as they drove off. I smiled in the sunshine. Some local children, obviously very poor, stood staring quizzically at us. I asked Lee for our sweets and gave them a pack each. The eldest smiled and struck up a faltering conversation with us. It was wonderful, and so was life. As we clambered back onto our bus another mini bus pulled up. It was full of back-packers. We were the only two westerners on our bus. It did not matter though.
On the bus we struck up a conversation with two younsters who were travelling together from Singapore. They gave us lots of information about travel in Thailand and Malaysia.
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