PART 2: ENLIGHTENED CROISSANTS

20-21 July 2013. Days 4 & 5 of 15. 
Bantin Pah LAOS, Khiewkha Cham (Bear Paws Wine) LAOS, Luang Prabang LAOS (Wat Xieng Thong temple, Wat Xien Muan temple, Pha Bang temple, Royal Place Museum, Phu Si hill, That Chomsi temple, Wat Pha Phutthabaht temple, Wat Wisunarat temple), Kuang Si (waterfalls) LAOS. 
Overnights in Luang Prabang. 

Luang Prabang (pop 62,000) is to Laos what Siem Reap (Angkor) is to Cambodia and Hoi An is to Vietnam. An ancient, slow pace, peaceful town full of temples, colourful houses and French influence. The town was founded in 698AD by Thai Prince Khun Lo and has 33 temples (or "Wats"). Many French lived here during the 1893-1953 occupation and their influence is obvious in many of the buildings and shops. You can walk down any of the main roads of Luang Prabang and see a juxtaposition of Buddhist temple and French bakery,

one after the other, making the croissants here enlightened indeed. I wonder if anyone ever offered up a croissant to a Buddhist monk during the 5:30am blessing ritual! Luan Prabang means "Royal Buddha Image" and it was the capital of Laos from its founding until 1975 when communism took over and moved the capital to Vientiane. Our 230km drive to Luang Prabang from Vang Vieng took 6.5hrs because of the narrow windy road ascending and descending a huge lush jungle ridge which afforded terrific views and added meaning to the "rugged north" that is common to these parts across Vietnam, Laos and Thailand.

We made some stops along the way to take photos since you pass many small villages clutching the sides of the ridge. There are many children playing roadside and they love having their photos taken,

especially playing them back - I photographed and filmed a little boy in Bantin Pah and he was especially entertained by watching the film of himself! We also stopped off at a cafe at the top of the ridge some 2,000m above sea level for a coffee and some more pictures. Lunch was not far off in scenic cafe at the small village of Khiewkha Cham which featured on its menu "soup of wild deer intestines stuffed with feces"! I kid you not. Stephen claims that no one in his 14yrs of guiding has ever ordered this item so I decided to break the mold. Much to my disappointment, the waiter looked at me surprised then smiled and informed me that this dish "was out of season".

The table moaned with disappointment. For me it brought back memories of my first cousing Peter using the same words and the same smile when I asked him to cook "baby seal" in Norway in 2006! Guess what. In true Golfin Adventurer style, I managed to part salvage this lunchtime situation by finding a huge jar of "rice wine soaked in Asian Black Bear paws" right next door!!! I immediately proceeded to pour myself a glass and drink it much to the disgust of my group. If it is there and disgusting I have to do it. It is on film. It tasted like a very strong, sweet version of standard rice wine with a slight musky flavour. It was strong. I could still feel it in my esophagus and stomach, 30min later.

At this point the scenery started to soften from the rugged mountains of the ridge to rolling hills, still however, covered in lush green jungle. Our last stop was up on the ridge just before descending down into the plateau that contains Luang Prabang. You can see the Mekong from here and a small town just before Luang Prabang. We pulled up at the hotel at 4:45pm and I was keen on posting Vang Vieng and even keener for some plonk given the h

ours on the mini-bus. At around 7:30pm I set off under the soft lights of Luang Prabang to meet the others at a popular restaurant fronting "Nam Khan" (Khan river). Luang Prabang was purposely built at the juncture point where the Khan empties out into the bigger, faster Mekong. Dinner was terrific since it gave me another chance to eat exotica - this time not too exotic - wild buffalo with sticky rice! Very tasty. Sticky rice is ordinary rice that has been steamed instead of boiled so it sticks together so you can shape it and dip it into sauces and eat it with your hand - much like the Italians do with bread.

Tonight it was Larry David night and I finished off the last of my blogging red to a couple of episodes - I must have kept someone awake with my laughter - "Palestinian Chicken" was to blame - my favourite "Curb Your Enthusiasm" episode!!! Most of us decided to go solo the next day so I slept in and ran at 8am instead of the usual 6 or 6:30am. The run was great taking me over an old wooden bridge spanning the Khan and out to the new international airport nearing completion by the Chinese in return for minerals.

What a fine building - one of the nicest I have seen - it is done Lao style and looks like several temples joined together. A320s (130 seats, twin jet engines) are able to land here given the large size of the plateau. Today the plan was to walk the town and temples alone in the morning and meet some of the others to go to the famous Kuang Si waterfalls in the afternoon to cool off. Many of our group went elephant riding which I skipped since I had done it in Thailand with Lucy and George in 2007. Much to my delight the sun was out but it was shit hot.

Sweat poured out and I found it impossible to dry off. Laos had finally shown its true jungle colours. Here we were, thinking that it is milder than elsewhere in Indochina. Wrong. Just as humid. Just as hot. The great designs and colours of the temples made up for it and took my mind off the sauna around me. Before the first temple I walked down the main road alongside the Khan to the tip of the town's peninsula  to see the Khan pour into the Mekong. This area is very neat and tidy and has the bulk of upmarket hotels and restaurants. Most buildings are French style.

There is a cafe at the juncture of the Khan and Mekong and the view from here is first class. The first temple I visited is above the juncture point and was easily the most ornate (of the 3 others that I saw later). It is called "Wat Xieng Thong" - built by King Setthathirat in 1560. It is famous for its "tree of life mosaic", "dharma wheel ceiling" and a magnificent 12m high funeral boat housed in its own chapel. It was one of the hardest things to photogragh since it fits almost exctly in the chapel that contains it. From here it was a long walk to Wat Xieng Muan temple. Unfortunately it was closed and is known for its gold naga (seven-headed "good" serpent) and fancy candle rail inside.

Most temples have a monastery beside them to house the many orange-clad Buddhist monks that live in the town. The monastery at Muan was built with the assistance of New Zealand including a school to teach new monks temple art (painting and wood carving) and how to take care of the many temples in town. Any male can become a monk and many Lao guys actually "do a stint" as a monk after school before returning to the world to work. I call it Holy Service instead of Military Service! Our guide, Sayan did this for 6mths and he laughed when I coined the term. Stop 3 and 4 were the Pha Bang and the Royal Palace very close by. The two are in a huge enclosure. The Pha Bang is a temple containing the standing gold Buddha after which the city was named. The Lao Royals would worship here until they were expelled when the communists took over in 1975. At that time the palace was made a musuem showcasing the history and culture of Laos, especially differentiating the many ethnic groups that live in the country - much like the Ethnology museum we saw in Hanoi Vietnam.

Opposite the Palace complex is the famed 100m high "Phu Si" hill containing the golden spired "That Chomsi" temple at the top (visible from most parts of town). This "hill" offers 360 degree views of the entire town including the converging Khan and Mekong rivers. You can even see the new international air terminal! Also on top is the "Wat Pha Phutthabaht" which is tiny and apparently built over a footprint left by The Lord Buddha himself! Pity it was locked up so I cannot verify this claim. On my way down I met Guenther who was chatting with two guys from England and Taiwan. Ten minutes later and we invited them to come with us to the waterfalls in the afternoon since they too were wondering how to get there (32km from town).

I left Guenther and made my way past the fresh produce markets alongside the Mekong and then to the Dala Markets to buy an alarm clock since yesterday my iPhone 4 finally carked it (died)!!! I reckon it was so full my sweat that it could not cope.

So much for smart phones - smart but not tough! Lucky for me I brought my old $5AUD MP3 player that I bought in China in 2008 and it is still going - dumb but tough! From here it was off to my last temple, "Wat Wisunarat" which is the oldest continually operating temple in Laos. It was built in 1513 and destroyed by invading Chinese in 1887. It was re-built by 1989. This temple is also famous for "Rain Buddhas" which are called on when it has not rained for a while so that the rice harvest can be preserved.

Out front is the "That Pathum", a Lotus Stupa carved from limestone back in 1514. It couldn't be burned down! By this time I was melted so I headed to the hotel to strip down for the waterfalls. A total of seven of us turned up at the agreed time of 2:30pm and the hotel called for an airconditioned mini-bus to take us the 32km there and back for only $8AUD each! The ride took 30min through lush jungle and the entry gates were surrounded by BBQ food stalls and shops.

The falls are a 5min walk from the gates and along the way we visited the "Bear Sanctuary" which works to preserve the Asian Black Bear which over the centuries was hunted by locals for its meat and claws. OK, yes - I felt bad that I had drunk bear paw rice wine as I proceeded to photograph the cuddly creatures. The Kuang Si falls themselves are very enjoyable. Very clean, very milky blue and very cool (I guessed around 20C). As a result they are very popular and there are lots of people in them from all over the world. After my swim I lay down for kip and reckon I must have counted six different languages spoken within a 100m radius from me.

My favourite pastime here was to sit under the falling water giving you a free massage - all that was missing was a glass of bubbly! It started to sprinkle as we headed back (5pm) and just as well since we had finished our day and walking to dinner at 7pm was cool and less humid. Dinner tonight was my favourite. Guenther agreed. We all walked into the night markets selling everything from Oreo shakes to intestines. The fresh fruit shakes are especially popular. The clever Lao actually line up rows of plastic cups with all the various fruit menu combinations already inside the cup. You look, you pick and then they add ice and blend and hey presto - what looks like a 350mL fresh juice shake for only $1.50AUD. Ridiculous.

The food we ate was even more ridiculous - price-wise I mean! Most of us enjoyed huge portions of BBQ meats or fish with an "all-you-can-fill" plate of 15 different vegies and 10 different pastas and noodles. Heaven. My estimated 400gram fish cost $5AUD. The 640mL Beerlao's only went for $1.50AUD. Double heaven! I even sampled some breast chicken - so tasty. There were also whole or half ducks, smaller chickens and pork, beef and sausages of many shapes and sizes. The vegies were the best I had eaten anywhere - eggplant, beans, carrots, morning glory, bock choy and even broccoli. Not coated in oil and very tasty. The place was packed including Dutch and New Zealanders! Shock!

The only downside was the place was hot because it was narrow, unventilated and next to the BBQ coals. We all struggled to walk home from all that wonderful food. For me the rest of the evening involved reducing my 396 photos of Luang Prabang down to 109. One of the toughest culls I've done. I needed more than just my usual Chilean red to calm me down and keep me going so I decided that another episode of Larry David was in order before what turned out to be a deep sleep.