Okay, town may be a bit of an understatement. A series of shops, restaurants and lodges clinging to a hill might be more near to the mark. We walked up the hill, turned round (after buying a beer from a woman with a fridge on her front porch) and walked back down again.
Whilst looking at the menu in the Sabaidee restaurant our posh Aussie friends (cough...splutter!!) Ted and Dianne were coming out, they had a meal booked in their hotel and had just come along for a drink. They said the food looked good so we gave it a go.
Nigel and Debbie from Leeds were seated and looking at the home made, hand written menu booklet, we ordered and Lynn was ecstatic - they had wine - Weyhay!! The food was fine, spring rolls to start and I had a marianated pork steak and home made fries. I'd smelled the BBQ aroma coming from the street vendors on arriving and caved in.
At one point we had a power cut, something the staff took in their stride (after blaming the Chinese) and soon enough the candles were out. They didn't even break the sequence of cooking as the sound of metal spoon on wok could be heard throughout the little interlude.
Non of the women were brave enough to go to the toilet, it was down a set of stairs that were so steep Health and safety in England would have had a field day shutting the place down. It was also a squatter, and unisex. I only went for the entertainment value. That, and the copious amount of Beer Lao I drank.
The next morning we woke up to a misty start. There was to be a bonus though, an elephant was spotted across on the other bank with its keeper, us and the French were snapping away for fun.
It was easier going downhill with the bags and soon we were on our way again on a very cool morning.
That was to be a blessed relief when we stopped off at another village where after another trek up the steep embankment we came across a scene that Lynn loved - people selling things.
The people of this settlement made scarves on old ancient wooden weaving machines, everyone was out selling them - Lynn could not resist. Some of the townsfolk were distilling whiskey made from sticky rice; it was lethal and not for the faint hearted.
On these occasions you feel you'd love to buy something from everyone, the first village included. You obviously can't and you leave feeling a bit sorry for them - perhaps their lives are fine and it's us that have all the problems in the world (philosophy over - back to the river).
One last stop off was a set of caves that housed thousands of Buddhas, offered by the locals to bring luck. It was a 277 step treck to the top. Lynn, Dianne and Ted decided to sit this one out and break open the beer, wished I'd joined them.
Approaching the pier on the outskirts of Luang Prabang one thing was obvious, it would be another bloody climb to get to the minivans that waited for us. Eventually we were all shepherded onto vans and driven into town to our hotels, it was about 5pm and still very hot - another cold beer was definitely required.
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