Zelma’s Trip

Louang Phabang was a beautiful town which was designated a World Heritage site in 1995. When we ventured into the town on our first evening there was a fair surrounding a donation ceremony to Buddha. The fair was very entertaining with games such as throwing darts at balloons and an array of strange gambling type games for children. We then headed into town, ate and watched the football.

On the Sunday we walked through the town and looked at the various Wats (temples) including Wat Pa Khe and Wat Pha Phoutthabat from where you had an awesome vantage point over the town. We headed down to a local cafe, had drinks and went for a paddle in the river. I was talking to some local boys who were fishing by throwing big nets into the water and then quickly gathering them up. On one occasion I asked if they had caught anything and, when they pulled the net up they discovered with glee that they had. The boy then looked upset, tossed the fish back into the river and said, “unhappy fish”!

Whilst in Louang Phabang we had an amazing meal at a restaurant where you cooked your own food. You ordered plates of meat, seafood etc and then the centre of your table was turned into a kind of stove come barbeque and you put things on to cook. We also went on a tour to the caves along the river. Unfortunately Matt was too ill so Alf and I went to the caves and he joined us for the latter trip to the waterfall. The river trip to the caves was good and the caves were most odd with hundreds of buddha statues inside. Unfortunately the upper cave had an intolerable smell which made you want to throw up so we didn’t spend too long inside that one. Rory, an American guy staying at out guesthouse, joined us for the waterfall trip. Prior to leaving there was torrential rain but thankfully this cleared by the time we arrived at the waterfall. The waterfall itself was 60m high and stunning and there were several smaller waterfalls and pools below. We had a swim in one of the pools which was labelled “swimming area”. Much to my amusement the areas where you shouldn’t swim were labelled “don’t swimming area”. I also managed to lose yet another earring. I lost one in Hanoi, bought a new pair then found the original, then I lost one tubing so decided to throw the other one in for good measure and finally I lost one when diving to see how deep it was at the bottom of the waterfall. Note to self, hoop earrings and watersports/ swimming do not mix!

On the Monday Alf, Matt and Rory left for the airport bound for Hanoi. I was planning on heading North up the river however the boats left in the morning. I asked about a speedboat (please don’t look too hard into this as they are notoriously dangerous in the dry season) but there were none available. Perhaps they had all crashed! I got a tuk tuk to the bus station and was informed that I could not go to where I wanted to directly. The round trip looked ridiculous. I got talking to a Scottish guy at the bus station who must have thought I was a complete plumb. Not only had I bought a Beer Lao to console myself having been deserted, I was in about 300 minds as to where I actually wanted to go and how. I then decided that the best plan was to head to the airport to try and get a flight South. When I arrived at the airport I found Rory who had not been let onto his flight due to visa problems. We decided to drown our sorrows over a Beer Lao and then headed to find a guesthouse.

One slightly odd thing about the peaceful town of Louang Phabang was the “bowling”. This wasn’t mentioned in any of our combined guidebooks and when tuk tuk drivers had been offering to take us there at night we had wondered if it was some cover up for a brothel. The previous night we had ventured there and discovered it was a fully functional electronic bowling alley with a late bar. Rory and I decided this was a good plan again, however it was somewhat less fun than the previous night as we were overwhelmed by Europeans. I was also starting to feel slightly off colour (I blame my dinner) and spent the entire night therein throwing up. Apparently Rory didn’t hear a thing though and slept in his bed (right next to the bathroom) like a baby!

The following day Rory left and I spent a lot of the day in bed feeling sorry for myself. I managed to post a parcel home, do a bit of shopping and buy my flight ticket for the following day. I also went into town to get money out and got so many electric shocks off the cash machine that I had to give up and go to another. This despite my ever recommended advice of wearing flip-flops!