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| Luang Prabang museum. Shut throughout New Year (in case the exhibits get wet?) |
Just a short update here as despite spending three nights in Luang Prabang, a UNESCO city in the northern Laos, I have precious few photos to show for it. This is because:
- I slept in on the first full day and missed all the tours.
- Laos New Year basically consists of a three day water fight so getting your phone out was risky (and I'd already lost one phone to water damage).
First off though, my stitches needed to be removed. Since it was a public holiday and I'd no idea how long or expensive a trip to a private hospital might be, I texted a picture of my forehead to a doctor friend, then set about interviewing my fellow travellers to find out who might be the best qualified for such a delicate task. Sadly, there was a complete absence of doctors or nurses on the tour, so it boiled down to Tracy, a very pleasant American lassie who once worked in a hospital (in the marketing department), and Charlotte, an equally charming English lassie who once pulled some barbs out of her foot. Charlotte "won" and took her role very seriously ...
And she was soon ready to go to work...
And a few gentle tugs later, I'm happy to report that Charlotte did an excellent (and sober) job and my promising modelling career has not been too badly impacted.
As I mentioned, our three day trip to Luang Prabang coincided with the three-day long festival for Pi Mai Lao - or Lao New Year. The celebrations seem to mainly consist of getting a right good booze on and engaging in water fights. It doesn't matter if you are "unarmed", you'll still get people of all ages soaking you. When it's wee kids with water pistols/guns, it's very charming (and in the 40C heat, actually quite pleasant). However, it loses its charm somewhat when some guy just empties a bucket of water over your head and all your possessions are suddenly soaked.
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| Wet t-shirt competition |
Seemingly, not even the police escape ... I witnessed a couple of police offers buying waterproof sleeves for their phones. In the evening, there were various shindigs going on, and it was nice to see everyone in such a jovial mood.
Emeline (yet another very pleasant lassie on the trip) persuaded me to get a massage while I was there, which I was a wee bit apprehensive about since I'd heard that Thai/Laotian masseuses basically kick the living shit out of you, and I had no desire to go to hospital yet again on this trip. Thankfully, they went easy on me (possibly too much). Unfortunately, I don't have any photos of this momentous occasion, but I don't think many people are going to be disappointed at not seeing a picture of me naked and with no glasses.
We also climbed a hill to a small hotel with a Buddhist temple and "fine views over Luang Prabang". Or at least there might have been fine views were it not for all the pollution. By the time we got to the top of the hill, the sweat was pouring off us, so it wasn't the most enjoyable "climb a hill and take a photo" experience I've ever had.
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If you look very closely, you can just about make out the sun
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A special mention to our hotel which was very grandiose and comfortable (massive rooms, a swimming pool, and most importantly, air-con!). Next up though - none of the above, as we take a bumpy all-day bus ride to stay in a local village.
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