Round The World and other travels
A frequent flyer's collection of trip diaries
This is: Round The World 2015
Water, water, everywhere
 |
 |
| Soaking wet, just as the previous day had ended | |
I had fallen asleep to the sounds of torrential rain and I woke up to the realisation that nothing had changed overnight, and this despite the fact that we were meant to be in the dry season. As one local would later put it, this was April weather. We had a quick breakfast at the hotel. Ordering scrambled egg turned out to be a mistake when it arrived with the same consistency as the egg fragments in fried rice. The main business of the day was to be our riverboat tour, and we started by taking the hotel shuttle van into town. The driver was kind enough to drop us directly at the boat's departure point.
Our boat carried a relatively light load of passengers and we were able to enjoy the comfort of having a table to ourselves. The rain didn't seem to be too bad initially and we were soon powering along upriver at a cracking pace.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Our first stop was at a little place called Ban Xiang Hai, more commonly referred to as 'the whisky village'. This struck me as a little bit odd, since the local product was rice wine; maybe I'm just too picky. We had time for a brief look around before it started to rain heavily again.
 |
 |
 |
|||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Our second and last visit was to the caves of Pak Ou, situated across from the mouth of the Ou river. This attraction consisted of a pair of caves, which were filled with hundreds of (mostly small) Buddha figures. With so many visiting boats, so many people in a confined space, the pouring rain between the pier and the caves and the steep climbs involved, this was a somewhat challenging exercise, but interesting enough. After responding to prompts to put some money in the contributions box, I was given an offering - probably a joss stick, I can't remember - to leave at one of the shrines.
We were served a surprisingly nice lunch on the journey back to Luang Prabang - it certainly helped to pass the time, but was actually quite enjoyable in its own right.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
As the weather was still terrible on arrival, we used a tuk-tuk to get back to the hotel - again insisting that the driver do the complete journey to our destination - and spent what remained of daytime hours just relaxing indoors.
When
evening came and with the weather still shockingly poor, we had a
quick drink at the hotel bar and took the shuttle into town. Our
first stop there was Tangor, a French bar. We took a pair
of outward-facing seats at the front, positioned in the style of a
Parisian pavement café and therefore ideal for people-watching. Some
very careful positioning was required in order not to end up getting
soaked. We continued the French theme with dinner at Un Petit
Nid (right), and then returned to Tangor for a
nightcap.
Finally, we rode back to the hotel through torrential rain, in a tuk-tuk with soaking wet seats. What crazy weather!