Update from Luang Prabang, Laos

Sabaydee! (Hello in Laotian)

We’ve whizzed through Thailand and are now back in Laos. From Angkor Wat (gush! gush! Photos!) we sped across to Bangkok, up on a night train to Chiang Mai, then spent 5 days on a raft and a boat floating down to Luang Prabang. Needless to say, we’re glad to be back on dry land, especially as this means we can finally get some laundry done.

A funny thing happened during our raft trip from Tha Ton to Chiang Rai (Photos). Along the way, we stopped at a number of very remote villages. At one, we were greeted by about 20 ecstatic children, who ran up to us, grabbed our hands, relieved us of our sweets, and pulled us through their village joyously. Then, as one, they started making cut-throat gestures, and pointed in the direction they were pulling us. Had someone been killed up there? Did the same fate await us? Needless to say, we didn’t proceed to find out!! When we returned to our raft we asked our navigator to ask the children what was going on. In the confusion we recognised one word: “Opium”. Seeing as we were in the famous Golden Triangle - the border area between Thailand, Burma and Laos, where Opium had been grown until recently - it could’ve been a close shave. We’ll never know!!

In other news: We were in Angkor Wat when the temple itself was struck by lightening - definitely a change of underwear required there. We finally got to see The Matrix 2 in Bangkok, and it lived up to all expectations! Phil has broken his won’t-eat-anything-with-more-than-four-legs rule. Huge, deep-fried cockroaches were being handed around next to the bus from Cambodia to Thailand and, well, it would’ve been rude not to, wouldn’t it?

Birthday news: Phil celebrated his 30th birthday in Chiang Mai with a Thai massage (no extras!), followed by (how can we put this?) a case of the trots. Fortunately he recovered in time for the Thai cooking course the next day…

Where next? We have to make our way to Singapore by 21 July for our flight to Australia. We’ll stay in Luang Prabang for a few days, before looping back into Northern Thailand. We’ll then hurtle down to Malaysia, spend a few days there, before heading into Singapore and then onto Oz.

Sabaydee! (Also goodbye in Laotian!)

(2023 Update: Photos from Laos can be found here)