LUANG PRABANG (LP): Lovely old guest house, Vissana, whose front room is loaded with antique silks and cottons. High ceilings with fans, lots of plants and flowers, but she only has room for one night. So the next morning after a big helping of banana pancakes and cafe lao, made in what looks like a cloth funnel, we are taken to her sister’s guest house a few blocks away. This is a stucco and bamboo house, renovated with silk hangings and baskets and would you believe, a BATHTUB!!! I haven’t had a bath since leaving Nova Scotia. Never mind that it leaked a bit and the plug didn’t quite plug; it felt soo good after a long dusty day on the bikes out of town to find the tomb of one Henri Mouhot who ‘discovered’ Angkor Wat but died of malaria here in 1861. The guide book said to look for a sign about 14k out of town. It neglected to tell us tthat the sign in question was for an elephant camp! We zipped past it, got to the elephant camp, where there were no people let alone any elephants, carried on through a small village and to the end of the road. Retracing our steps to the elephant camp sign we saw some parked bikes. On closer inspection, we saw a path going down to the river ( also mentioned in guide book). Down we went and after a few hundred yards ran into a group of French tourists who said we were on the right track. The tomb is tucked away in a little jungle glade by the river; quiet and peaceful. We met a fellow photographer there who said, ‘Did you see the big snake eating a frog on your way in?’ So much for peaceful and quiet.
There’s a good market in LP and lots of pastries and cakes, a legacy of the French. As a UNESCO heritage site there is also lots of work being done to restore and repair some of the murals on the old wats. The colors are blazing bright; quite a shock when you are used to seeing faded peeling images. We wanted to see two contemporary art exhibits at the LP museum but it took two days for us to get the timing right,. Museum hours are 8 am to 11 am and 1:30 pm to 3:50pm. Finally made it one afternoon and saw some huge silk embroderies, maybe 10 feet long by 5 feet high. One was silver thread on pale blue silk, waves of stars; another had a field of satellite dishes that looked like umbrellas, and a third was delicate flowers done in gold thread on yellow silk. Also saw some contemporary photography of Buddhist monks meditating in the jungle. When we went to look at an ancient throne in the main part of the museum at 3:30 pm ( I looked at my watch!), they were closing the doors!!! So we went and had lime fruit shake instead.
Our next hurdle was getting bus tickets for us and the bikes to go from LP to Vang Vieng, a distance of about 200k, but most of it vertical. First we went to 2 travel agents who said we couldn’t take the bikes on the bus. This came as surprise because we had had no problem in Thailand. A third agent sold us tickets, but said we had to check at the bus station about the bikes. We then went out to the bus station where the ticket agent said we had paid too much for our tickets and if we wanted to take the bikes it would be an extra 80,000 kip. OK we said. ‘Be here at 7 am tomorrow’. OK we said.
Next morning we rode to the bus station past a group of young monks chanting by the side of the road while a couple of people knelt in front of them. At the bus station, the driver said he wanted $5 US to put the bikes on. ‘Ha, ha, ‘ we smiled, we already paid’, meantime taking off panniers and front wheels and shoving the bikes in the luggage bays. This VIP bus took 6 hours to go the 200k up and up and around one hairpin turn after another. We passed a couple of cyclists we had met in LP and they looked exhausted. We silently thanked god that we were on 4 wheels and not 2 and arrived in Vang Vieng around 2:30 pm. Actually we arrived on the highway across an old deserted airstrip from the town and it took us a few minutes to figure out where the town actually was. But we did, found a guest house, had showers, had a nap, got up, went to use the bathroom only to find out there was no water. Help was summoned and the water was mysteriously turned on again!
Our plan was to ride from Vang Vieng to Ban Tha Ha, a town at the northern end of a long lake made when the Ngum river was dammed. There we were to call a Mr. Leh who would take us down the lake to Longngum resort, from where we would ride the 100k to Vientiane.
First challenge was to set this up with Mr. Leh. The phone system in Lao is sporadic, so it’s a crap shoot as to whether you will actually connect with someone on their cell phone or, if connected, whether the connection will last more than a minute. We got guy at guest house to call for us and after 3 tries he got through. ‘’You meet me at Ban Tha Ha at 10 am,’ says Mr. Leh before we are cut off.
Bright and early the next day we set off to ride the 23 k to Ban Tha Ha, hoping we’ll find a dock of some sort. We find a one-street village, with a market full of dried fish, that sits high above the lake. Riding up and down the main drag, looking for anything resembling a boat dock we found a well-dressed gentlemen gingerly repairing a wooden fence. ‘Do you know Mr. Leh?’ we asked hopefully. Yes, yes, you go my restaurant and call. Where you from?’ Off we went to his restaurant ( the most prosperous least dusty of the several lining the road). ‘Can we use your phone to call Mr. Leh?’ we asked the young woman minding the place. After 3 tries she got through;’ I’m far away. I will see you in 4 minutes.’ Click. Line was dead. So we got some coffee at the shop next to the restaurant; they apparantly didn’t have coffee yet. And sat down to wait. Sure enough, 45 minutes later a burly young man appeared as if by magic. ‘You come with me,’ he said, leading us down the steep bank between 2 houses to his long wooden pirogue. He picked up the bikes like they were toys and deposited them in the bow. We followed, sitting on a mat in the middle of the boat, whilce Mr. Leh steered the outboard motor from the rear. We then put-putted down the lake, past little islands, dead tree trunks, the odd water buffalo, dozing, swimming,and seeing not one human being.
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