We grabbed some breakfast at the guesthouse cafe while we were waiting for everyone else. The gal running the cafe was very beautiful, though timid. She talked to us for a bit once our food was ready. She doesn't get outside the village much, but enjoys chatting with the visitors that come through town.
We walked down some steep steps next to the guesthouse bungalows to a longboat that was waiting for us. There was just barely enough room for one row to sit on small chairs along each side with a small amount of room running down the middle of the boat. The trip to Luang Prabang usually was 5-6 hours during the dry season, but due to the faster currents during the rainy season it would only take us 3-4 hours.
The boat motor is so loud you can barely think, let alone converse. So I put on my headphones and just soaked up the magnificence of God's creation with my eyes, and occasionally with my camera.
You can tell by the mud line on the shore and water line on passing trees that the river has recently been at least a foot higher.
The water is brown with mud from run-off from the rains. There are also these white foamy balls of various size floating in the water. I haven't been able to figure out what they exactly are and the noise of the motor is so loud I'm not able to ask. Will have to ask Sai. But I think it is just foam that has collected from parts of the river that have been more turbulent.
The sky had been overcast most of the way, but the sun popped out just as we were reaching the Than Pak Ou caves where many thousands of Buddha's have been stashed. The caves are located where the Ou river meets the Mekong. The lower cave has over 3,000 Buddha statues, and the upper cave has over 1,000. People bring them here as there is no room to put them in the main temples. They believe there is something sacred about caves.
It was only one more hour on the river to Luang Prabang, but it quickly got very hot with the sun out. Even in that short time I managed to get sun burn, but only on my left arm as it was the only part of me not covered by the roof of the boat.
We arrived in Luang Prabang and walked the couple blocks to our hotel, the Phasoke Guesthouse, which was located near the night market in the old part of town. We enjoyed an hour or so in the air conditioned room and then went wandering a bit in the night market a bit before we went back to meet up with our group for dinner.
We went through the night market to a place in town right across from the Stray office called' The Pizza Luang Prabang restaurant'. They had Pizzas, schnitzels, Lao food, etc. I had the Hawaiian pizza (a little taste of Western heaven) with a Rice wine (tasted a bit like Japanese Sake only served chilled). Only real downside to the restaurant was that they tried to overcharge all the ladies (though they didn't try to overcharge Steve). It was only by 5,000 Kip each (approx. $0.63), but it was still the principle that they were charging more than the published price on the menu. I would have otherwise given a 5k tip, but thought otherwise after that.
Afterward we walked around the block to the Lao Lao Gardens, a beautifully lit terraced garden with tiled-covered cement patio tables. This venue is named after the Lao-made alcohol called Lao Lao. You have Lao Lao Whisky, rum, vodka, all mostly rice based but reasonably good. You can get 2 for 1 Lao Lao coctails for 20,000 Kip. A few of the other Stray guides/employees were there, too, and so we all joined up at another table. I had a drink called Pink Gay that had pineapple juice, Lao Lao, Grenadine, and Orange. It was tart, but very refreshing.
A very good start to our 4 days in Luang Prabang.
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