Day 20 - Mekong River, Pak Beng to Luang Prabang, Laos

What a sight to wake up to this morning. It's really foggy and actually quite cold outside though. Must be about 10 degrees or so. 

We have a very lovely surprise when we see the elephants come down to the river to be bathed whilst we have breakfast. Their guides ride them like surf boards into the Mekong and then wash their backs standing on them.  Then off they trot back up the hill. 

We check out of the wonderful Pak Beng Lodge. We could definitely stay another night here. It is truly beautiful and sheer luxury. 

http://www.pakbenglodge.com/contentENG/PBL-PakBeng-ENG.html

Back to the boat.

 

Past our hotel. Ours is the top one. 

It takes a while for the fog to clear and until it does it is bloody chilly on the boat. 

It starts to clear at about 10am

Back to the gorgeous blue skies and warm weather. It is actually a lovey climate in northern Laos. 

Today is very similar to yesterday. We just sit back and enjoy the views. It is getting more mountainous the further south we get. Really starting to remind us of Halong Bay now with the contrasts of the mountains and rocks jumping up from the water.  

We stop just after lunch to visit the Pak Ou Caves. Not as impressive as the Halong Bay ones. If I'd have travelled up the river 25km from Luang Prabang just for this I would have been a little disappointed. But seeing as it is on the way for us it was worth the stop. There is only a couple of relatively small caves that are jam packed full of mini Buddha statues. 

We welcome the exercise getting up there though. 

Next stop was the Whisky Village where they make, yep you guessed it, Whisky. Although they make it out of rice. Didn't taste too bad but you'd never order one!! The shop is next to the barrel where they make it. 

Back to the boat again on the craziest walk way to a boat we have ever used. 

After another hour or so we arrive in Luang Prabang. This town is great. It is situated on the confluence of the Nam Khan and the Mekong Rivers making the setting pretty amazing. It's a beautiful, very chic, sophisticated town with the right mix of traditional and modern. It's an old colonial town and heavily influenced by the French from when it was a French colony. There are no shortage of top restaurants and bars here. Shame everything is closed by 11.30pm though. 

There are also a lot of French people in Laos, particularly on our tour. We were easily the youngest on it by at least 10 years. Everyone is a bit perplexed as to what two "young one's" are doing out here on this tour which is a bit strange. 

We say goodbye to everyone and head for the hotel. We have arranged for our guide Si to take us around again tomorrow along with Swan and her husband from Singapore. So we will see them in the morning. Luckily he doesn't want the day off despite having a two week old baby and having been away for two nights. Guess he needs the money. They live in a house that is about 8 x 8 meters in total. Bit like our flat! ;-)

We are staying at a nice little boutique hotel called the Aspara which is right in the centre of town. 

http://www.theapsara.com

Not sure about our room though as it is literally on the main road. Nice enough inside though. 

That evening we have an early dinner as we are knackered and want an early night. We eat at a nice little French place called Le Cafe Ban Vat Sene. Need to give our stomachs a rest from Laos food so opt for the pizza tonight. 

Not sure about the foot warmer next to our table though!