I wandered off in search of food. On my travels, I found a place that did the fish pedicure! I was so so so happy. I had been wanting to try this ever since Clare said that she had it done in Singapore. I dunno if my feet repel fish, but I did not have a good go at it. Also, when I went to leave, the girl at the front was no where to be seen. I had seen her leave on a scooter about 10 mins after I got there, but assumed she had returned. I but my shoes on and walked down the street, towards some of the shops, thinking she might have been getting breakfast or something. No sign of her and no one stopped me. I wasn’t about to leave money just lying on the table at the front of the shop either. I wandered around the area for about 15 minutes before I had to head back to grab breakky and my tuktuk, so I left.
I had a baguette and a nice smoothie for breakky. I could have eaten more…and did later on when I bought a chicken and cheese crepe and a Beer Lao before getting to the tuktuk. Nothing says SE Asia like a crepe wrapped in a Little Mermaid paper container!! When I met up with the driver again, we stood on the street waiting for a bit. A friend of his pulled up on a scooter and motioned to me to hop on. OH-Kay? Where are you taking me? He drove down one of the side streets and we stopped near a van. There was an older guy there as well. Turns out, I was not going to the falls via tuktuk, but via van with 5-6 others. Ok. After collecting a few more people, we were finally off.
Once we got to the Kuang Si falls, after a fairly harrowing ride through the mountains, it was very nice and peaceful. Lots of people milling about, but I just wandered slowly through the paths, taking pics and stopping. I eventually ventured into the water as well. It was fucking cold but it felt really nice once I got in.
Also, nothing is classier than a tourist in her underwear swimming. LOL.
After a swim, I went off in search of a place to sit and chill out. I ordered some BBQ pork, sticky rice and beer from one of the random ladies along the souvenir trail. I also gained 2 new puppy friends while I tried to eat in peace. Damn dogs. I saw Kevin, the American who was with our van, sitting alone at one of the places next to where I was eating and went to talk to him. Nice guy. He lives and works in Kenya. We were joined by a Korean guy who was alone as well for a bit. Finally, we headed back to LPB. Along the way, we stopped in a Humong village and they tried to sell us scarves and bracelets. I bought one that reads “Nice weather isn tit”. LOL. Our van driver threw a rat in the back of the van, which he bought from the boys at the village. WHAT? Niiiiiiiice.
We finally made it back to the town and I made my way home after being dropped off at the wrong end of the street from where I was staying. It was semi-useful, as I found a chemists on the way and they had valium cheap. Sweet. I also popped into a tourism shop to book a trip to the Pak Ou Caves for the next day.
I showered and changed and chilled for a bit before heading out for something to eat. I had read about this restaurant across the river that was quite good so I thought I would check it out. You can walk across a bridge or the boat will take you. Earlier that morning, the bridge had only been ¾ completed, so I assumed I would be taken across in a boat. Nope. Bridge was done…although I seriously doubt any engineers were around to test its integrity. I made it across but holy, that was freaky. When I made it to the other side, 2 Americans were coming to cross back over. They asked if the bridge was fixed because they came over via boat. I said it was ‘fixed’, if you want to call it that, but it didn’t feel terribly secure. The one man said I would not have wanted to come via boat either. YIKES!!!
Dinner was a yummy hot pot of beef and veggies with various sauces. I had a couple of cocktails, since they were on special and a Beer Lao. I also made another canine friend who stayed at my feet pretty much all through dinner. They served me a starter of fried eggplant, which by the time my dinner arrived, was cold. I chucked the eggplant pieces on the hot pot to warm them up. I had 8 pieces and after I placed each piece on the hot cooker, a staff member felt the need to tell me that they were already cooked. OMG I KNOW THAT!!! I just want t heat them up!!! Sheesh.
I made my way back across the bridge, not wanting to have too many Beer Lao before attempting to walk back. On the way up a side street, I noticed a small bar, called Ikon Bar. There were various pictures of authors and writers and actors hung outside and I could hear really good music, so I went in. The owner, Lisa, is FABULOUS. She is Hungarian but has been in Laos for 12+ years. She makes some of the most awesome cocktails. My first one was a Bi-Polar Bear. LOL. It was sweet and spicy all at once. I was sitting next to a guy named Jason from Alaska and we spent the next 2 hours talking about movies. A Polish guy had come in about half way through that and when Lisa said the bar was closing, the Polish guy turned to us and said “I’m sorry, but you just spend almost 2 hours talking about movies?” Jason and I just looked at him and nodded and laughed. Good times.
Luang PraBang has a curfew. All businesses must be shut by 2330. YIKES. Lisa kicked us out and by the time I got back to my guest house, it was locked up tight! I thought I was ok, since my room had a door facing the street, I could go in that way. WRONG! I was locked out!! I rattled the door a little and knocked on the glass, really scared I would be sleeping on the ground outside my room. After a couple of minutes, a guy came to let me in, thankfully.
Day Seven: I woke up feeling a little worse for wear. Actually, I felt like shit. Too many cocktails. Ouch. But, I had a tour booked to the caves, so I dragged my arse out of bed and went there. I should know that Laos time is at least 30 mins to an hour after what it says. I was told to be there at 8am but no one was even there. Ugh. When they finally opened the shop, I stood around waiting. Once again, I was taken on the back of a scooter to a place near the water to wait for the boats. There were heaps of people sitting around. We were all given a piece of paper with a number on it and we had to wait for the number to be called to get on that boat.
Eventually, at about 915am, we pushed off to head out to the caves. Rickety boat plus no breakky plus hangover made for a shitful trip out there for me. We stopped at a village on the way (again) to attempt to get us to buy silk and scarves. Sigh. There was a very colourful temple out there with some freaky ass dog statues.
The caves are nice, but you don’t really need more than 20 minutes out there, unless you take the stairs of doom up to the top caves. My god, that was NOT a good idea. It felt like climbing the stairs to the Big Buddha in Hong Kong. UGH. NOT the thing to be doing with a minor hangover. Inside the caves, there were too many people and I panicked a little getting up and down the really steep stairs. People are pushy!
We made it back to LPB just after noon and I went in search of food. LOTS OF FOOD. GIMME ALL THE FOODS! I stopped at one of the first places I came to, partly because they had fried dried sweet buffalo. Why not? I ordered that, fresh rolls and tempura calamari, and of course, a Beer Lao. Hair of the dog was required by this point. I was feeling less than 100%. The buffalo was amazing, but the calamari was a small piece surrounded by heaps of batter. Gross. The fresh rolls were amazing as well with a great mix of coriander, prawn and fresh veggies. YUM!
I went for a head and shoulder massage. I think she spent the entire time on my head, which was annoying. I really needed my shoulders pummelled. I wandered back to my guest house and was still hungry. I think the hangover was on it’s way out and demanding carbs. I grabbed a pizza from the Swedish bakery down the street and sat outside of my room, munching and watching people go by.
I did head into town later in the evening, but was too full to eat anything and did not want to go back to Ikon and relive the horror of the hangover.
