After our massage course we decided to move on to Laos. This was not initially in our plans at all but several people recommended Laos to us, over the touristic Thailand, so we decided to go with the flow and take the 3-day slow-boat trip across the border and down the mighty Mekong river.
Below is a pic of our boat. It wasn't the most comfortable journey, it was definitely slow, and it was way too cold in the early-mornings and evenings (the weather took a turn for cool in the higher altitudes)... Yet the scenery on the way was fantastic and once we put on almost half of our wardrobe, one flimsy summer T-shirt on top of the other :), it turned out to be a really cool trip.
We stayed over-night at some villages on the way, we didn't know the names of these then, nor do we know them now, which by itself was a very zen feeling- why all the names, why chop up everything to little measured bits of information? :) We were in Laos, we were on the road, and knowing and not knowing the name of the place made no difference whatsoever, rather it grew the experience more mysterious, larger, and closer to life. The villages we stayed in were tiny, no Internet, no banks or atms, the locals were friendly, sweet and simple, they would offer the really horrible Mekong whiskey free of charge (probably because nobody would pay for that anyway :) ) and change the money exchange rate in our favour for no reason other than our request to do so.
After 3 days we reached our destination- the town of Luang Prabang in northern Laos, a scenic up-market spot surrounded by the river and draped with gorgeous mountains.
The temples in Luang Prabang were definitely charismatic and original. Where can one find a cute delicately engraved pink temple as this one for example...
On our second day in LP we took a tuk-tuk to a near-by water-fall. Yes, we have seen plenty of those by now and probably will see loads more but days out of the city in beautiful nature- there can never be enough of those...
We arranged to meet our tuk-tuk driver at 3 PM. By 3.20 there was still no sign of our ride. We already thought he had done the dirty on us, as we had paid most of the fare upfront already. Finally he was there. And so was our new fellow-passenger, an 18 kilo pig strapped to the floor of our hired taxi. Does anything really surprise us anymore with the sweet natural unpretentious people of the Orient? :)
And finally we went for a day of rock-climbing. Neither of us had ever done it, it was another adventure and challenge- what else could we think but- lets go for it!
And yes- it was definitely a challenge! :) Probably the hardest work-out in our lives, at some points holding on to some half-existing slippery crack with our nails almost dug into the stone, our muscles got the shakes, our heart got a decent fast influx of blood and our brain of adrenalin. It was exhilarating, mad, wonderful, difficult, tiring, energizing, meditative all at once and when we reached some seemingly impossible little markers at the top, then the jubilation in our hearts and the view over the whole town put a stop to our monkey-minds for some mind-boggingly peaceful universe-hugging minutes. Sitting down on the harness and jumpingly sliding back down- that was definitely our favourite climbing pose however :)
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