So, you may recall us riding merrily out of Chiang Rai a couple of weeks ago, me gaily describing our newly repaired bikes as wonders on two wheels. Well, it didn't last. My bike started to creak and crank about a week later, with a pedal coming loose and some gear issues that I don't really understand. Then a few days ago, the relentless onslaught that is the roads in this part of the world, took their toll and the creaking ratcheted up a notch and the pedals ceased to work. Fortunately this took place in Luang Prabang, the scenic ancient capital of Laos and as good a place as any to be stranded. Unfortunately, it took place on the first day of celebrations for Vietnamese / Chinese New Year, and the shop that stocks the spare part that we need is owned by a Vietnamese man who has shut up for the week. So, here we are. Its a beautiful, beautiful city but we are a tad bored - the scenery around is spectacular but not so easy to explore without our wheels.
My last entry was posted just before we were disappearing off for an overnight village stay / cave visit. Robin, you found the right cave and the description of the road was spot on. It was a shocker. Fortunately we were in a 4 wheel drive, but it still took nearly three hours to drive 35km, bouncing and bumping all the way. The hills were beautiful and we passed through quiet villages, the peace generally interrupted only by the squeeling of black pigs who were being strapped on the back of motorbikes to be taken to the local market.
Our arrival in the village where we were staying caused quite a stir. They get three or four groups a month, but Meg and Sam were the first foreign kids who had been out there, so everyone and their uncle, sister, fourth-cousin-twice-removed came out to see us. It is currently wedding season so there were a couple of weddings in full flow (cue LOTS of locally brewed wine and drunk people) which added to the 'atmosphere'. The caves themselves were pretty impressive - we all had to don helmets and head torches as there is minimal lighting inside the caves and what little light there is stops after 500m. Huge caverns, mighty stalactites and stalactites and lots of rather butchered explanations to Sam of how these are formed......I regretted giving up geography so early in life!
We were accompanied on our trip by the Vice President of the provincial tourist board. He was a rather dour man and we never quite worked out why we were thus honoured; something to do with having the kids and him wanting to make sure it was all okay, we figured.
In the morning we ambled around the village; Mike finds this excrutiatingly embarrassing as he can't help but imagine his own reaction if a load of tourists were wandering around Wickham Market and stopped to peer in our back gate and take pictures of our kids. You can imagine his face when we were pulled towards one of the weddings and asked to strut our stuff on the dance floor; fortunately the roof was about 5 ft 6 so he was able to refuse, protesting height issues.
From the cave we travelled by bus / bike to a small village called Nong Khiaw which is in a stunning location on the edge of the Nam Ou River (a smaller tributary of the Mekong). We pottered there, playing on the edge of the river for a day or two, before continuing downstream by boat to Luang Prabang. This was beautiful - really gorgeous karst scenery with not another boat to be seen and just the occasional 'rapid'.
Luang Prabang, as mentioned, is just lovely with lots of old colonial French buildings sporting picturesque shutters, peaceful alleyways with laid back cafes, endless views of the Mekong, and more temples than you can shake a stick at. There are also hordes of tourists, some with little blond kids, so we are not quite so conspicuous.
We will be here another couple of days, then, fingers crossed, my bike will be feeling better and we will be back on the road, heading south.
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