We made it back to our riverside perch after all. The return ferry ride was perfectly timed for sunset views of the valley, giving a back-lit glow to the sharp cones of karst looming overhead. Most of the villages lining this section of the river are simple secluded fishing villages only accessible by boat. We passed by during village bathing hour and caught glimpses of families soaping up along the shoreline with waves and smiles. The following day brought epic thunder storms. I woke up early and watched the sunrise behind the thunder and lightening from my hammock. The rain cleared the air, so for the first time since arriving in Laos we could finally see our surroundings in their fully glory. Incredible. It was like wiping thick dust off of a lens- it all finally came in crystal clear. We spent the morning exploring and taking pictures, then set off for the main highway junction at Pak Mong under a very dark and rain pregnant sky. We spent the night at a truck stop style guest house with an oh so avoidable bathroom and hit the road for Luang Prabang before the sun came up the next morning (thanks to a very persistent and loud rooster that crowed 2 feet from our room).
We sped to LP on mostly flat road and spent the next several days hopping back on the bikes and taking short trips to check out the sights. The Tad Se waterfall is supposed to be one of the major draws. We got ourselves unnecessarily lost trying to find it, paid for a boat ride and an entry fee, and ended up at a waterless pit. It's the height of the dry season. Laughable but majorly disappointing after seeing the pictures of the turquoise-hued, multi-tiered falls. Plus, by overshooting the turn to the falls we ended up surmounting a relentless 15k climb and were in serious need of cooling off. We felt persistent enough to follow road signs up a windy dirt road to a second set of falls (also dry)...so the cooling off plan didn't pan out very well, but we did get a chance to preview our ride out of town (HILLS!) and had a laughable adventure.
Most of Luang Prabang sits on a peninsula at the convergence of the Mekong and Khan rivers. The entire town is designated a UNESCO World Heritage site for the well preserved architecture, wats and French architectural accents. The highlights for me were the live music, standing on the bank of the wide Mekong and losing sight of my toes in the mud of its murky waters, and watching the sunset over the river from the top of Mt Phusi. Our guest house was a family run venture complete with a baby bassinet swinging from the rafters in the communal living room. The acrobatic bed belonged to "Meu Meu" (onomatopoeia for kitty cat) the barely walking toddler who probably has more international fans than anyone else I've met.
I had one major goal to accomplish before leaving LP and that was to find "rodent on a stick." We've seen dried and skewered squirrel?? at bus stops and roadside markets since arriving in Laos, but it hasn't looked quite....hmmm fresh or free of flies. I should probably be grossed out by the fact that the head and teeth are intact on the BBQed tidbits, but it mostly just intrigues me all the more. Ok, I admit that I initially thought I was seeing sizzled rat and was a lot less tempted, but I met a Lao speaker from Orange County (yep) and he set me straight. The meat market stalls in LP had all manner of ingenious fly swatter- jerry rigged stick/bag/fan combos- so I figured it would be my least sketchy chance at it. No dice. Turns out most foreigners prefer more recognizable meat varieties like fish and chicken. There was no fillet o' squirrel in sight, so I settled for a chicken thigh and a skewered patty of sticky rice instead. Disappointed for the time being, but no less determined.
It was in LP that we decided to scrap previous plans to bike in China. We had thrown together a plan to replace the Lhasa to Kathmandu trip by riding through Yunnan and Szechuan to redeem as much of the Tibetan Plateau bike experience as we could. With the mounting costs, the increasingly complicated logistics, and the recommendations of Thai touring coming from acquaintances, we concocted a new plan to continue south. My brother is living in Phuket for a few months, so if all goes as planned we will ride along the Myanmar border, bypass Bangkok (yikes), and roll up to his door by early June.
We sped to LP on mostly flat road and spent the next several days hopping back on the bikes and taking short trips to check out the sights. The Tad Se waterfall is supposed to be one of the major draws. We got ourselves unnecessarily lost trying to find it, paid for a boat ride and an entry fee, and ended up at a waterless pit. It's the height of the dry season. Laughable but majorly disappointing after seeing the pictures of the turquoise-hued, multi-tiered falls. Plus, by overshooting the turn to the falls we ended up surmounting a relentless 15k climb and were in serious need of cooling off. We felt persistent enough to follow road signs up a windy dirt road to a second set of falls (also dry)...so the cooling off plan didn't pan out very well, but we did get a chance to preview our ride out of town (HILLS!) and had a laughable adventure.
Most of Luang Prabang sits on a peninsula at the convergence of the Mekong and Khan rivers. The entire town is designated a UNESCO World Heritage site for the well preserved architecture, wats and French architectural accents. The highlights for me were the live music, standing on the bank of the wide Mekong and losing sight of my toes in the mud of its murky waters, and watching the sunset over the river from the top of Mt Phusi. Our guest house was a family run venture complete with a baby bassinet swinging from the rafters in the communal living room. The acrobatic bed belonged to "Meu Meu" (onomatopoeia for kitty cat) the barely walking toddler who probably has more international fans than anyone else I've met.
I had one major goal to accomplish before leaving LP and that was to find "rodent on a stick." We've seen dried and skewered squirrel?? at bus stops and roadside markets since arriving in Laos, but it hasn't looked quite....hmmm fresh or free of flies. I should probably be grossed out by the fact that the head and teeth are intact on the BBQed tidbits, but it mostly just intrigues me all the more. Ok, I admit that I initially thought I was seeing sizzled rat and was a lot less tempted, but I met a Lao speaker from Orange County (yep) and he set me straight. The meat market stalls in LP had all manner of ingenious fly swatter- jerry rigged stick/bag/fan combos- so I figured it would be my least sketchy chance at it. No dice. Turns out most foreigners prefer more recognizable meat varieties like fish and chicken. There was no fillet o' squirrel in sight, so I settled for a chicken thigh and a skewered patty of sticky rice instead. Disappointed for the time being, but no less determined.
It was in LP that we decided to scrap previous plans to bike in China. We had thrown together a plan to replace the Lhasa to Kathmandu trip by riding through Yunnan and Szechuan to redeem as much of the Tibetan Plateau bike experience as we could. With the mounting costs, the increasingly complicated logistics, and the recommendations of Thai touring coming from acquaintances, we concocted a new plan to continue south. My brother is living in Phuket for a few months, so if all goes as planned we will ride along the Myanmar border, bypass Bangkok (yikes), and roll up to his door by early June.
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