Jan. 27-28, 2013 - Luang Prabang, Laos

Jan. 27, 2013 - Luang Prabang, Laos

  The first night, last night, we venture out to a bar called Utopia.  The place was very western and was geared towards the backpackers.  I have heard this from other travelers but Laos has so many old bombs that they tend to use them as decorations.  Utopia was our first example of this.  They had been turned into lamps, the pool table light, and just random decorations on the ground.  Kinda odd, but I guess its a good use of what ya have available.  After a beer we walked the short distance to hostel.  On the way we stopped at a fruit stand because I really wanted to try this unknown red fruit that I had been seeing around.  At the stand we got a dragon fruit, some of the red things, and some grapes.

The plan was to supplement our baguette breakfast with the fruit.  That morning it worked our nicely.  We googled what the weird red things were, water apples.  We sliced up the dragon fruit and ate a few grapes.  When I finally got around to eating a water apple I ran into a little brown spot.  No big deal, I thought, Ill eat around it.  But then the brown spot started to move.  Worms!!!  I immediately spit the bite I had out on a plate.  Whewwww, crisis averted, the worm was still whole.  I hadnt eaten him!!  I just put the water apple down and decided I would slice the next one up, just to make sure it was worm free.  It was and I enjoyed it.  Water apples taste a lot like a mix of an apple, a pear, and a grape.  As Im enjoying my worm free water apple I see a spec jump outta the bad water apple and onto the table. WHAT THE HECK?!?!?  They are JUMPING water apple worms.  I quickly grab the plate and head for the trash can.  I am not fast enough because another jumping worm has exited the water apple and is now jumping its way across the floor.  Ewwww.  I finally make it to the trash can before a 3rd jumper can escape.  Dont worry though.  This worm experience didnt keep me from eat the rest of the water apples... I was just sure to slice them up before putting them in my mouth.  Exciting morning.

At  11:30 a group of us caught a minibus out to a waterfall and park.  The park also had a bear sanctuary.  They were little black bears with what looked like a lion haircut.  Lots of extra hair around their faces.  The water fall was only a 5 minutes hike from the parking lot, so we made the trek up very quick.  This waterfall was very unique because it had waterfalls in the waterfalls.  It looked like the water had also created natural travertines.  The water was also a very very beautiful light blue color.  Almost Caribbean blue.  We hiked the loop around the falls and took lots of photos.  Somehow we missed the fact that you could go swimming in one of the pools and didnt wear our swimsuits.  We did get to watch everyone else have fun in the water though!

We arrived back around 4 and just chilled for a bit.  We ventured around town for dinner and then had an early night in.

Jan. 28, 2013 - Luang Prabang Day 2

We rose at 5:30.  We had heard it was a cool thing to watch the monks file by for morning alms.  This is were the community or in our case tourists provide small amounts of food for the monks' breakfast.  The community lays out mats along the sidewalk and if you buy something to give to the monks they give you a carpet to sit on.  We bought some cookies and lined up with the other people giving food to the monks.  At 6am the first group of monks came by with there buckets to collect the food.  We didnt buy enough cookies to give to all of them so after the 2nd group filed by we went back to our beds for more sleep.

After waking up, showering, and checking out around noon we went to go visit a temple on the edge of town.

Then we visited the spa.  For this comedic and crazy story see the "ladies only" blog post.

We returned to the hostel for a little break then hiked up to the temple on the hill to watch the sunset.  Then we just waited for our transfer to the bus station for the night bus to Vientiene, Laos.

Night bus:
8pm:  We have managed to get ourselves on the VIP night bus.  We get water, a meal, a fresh blanket.  Its high rolling as far as night buses go.  It is FAR nicer than any of the other night buses I have been on.
9pm: At this very moment someone is puking in the bathroom with the door wide open.  Im right next to the bathroom.
10pm: No fewer than 4 people are vomiting.  Perhaps its the windy roads and they are car sick?

What I have learned:
Old bombs make interesting decorations.

A visit to the spa isnt always pleasant.

VIPs still get sick