Temples and Markets

A bit of culture today - there are so many temples here, we relied on Ming to take us to the most interesting. I think she did rather well in making sure we stopped whilst we were still enjoying them!
 
 

 
We liked the fact that the temples we saw were all old - and looked it. Those we've seen in Bangkok have been gilded and polished so highly, all personality and spirit of place is sometimes lost. Not so here.

The roof lines were lovely and I took many photographs of them. I also enjoyed the stencilled interiors, so detailed and each one different. Every interior wall was decorate with such stencils or with small pieces of mirror stuck into the wet plaster before it dried.

Stacks of buddhas lined the sides of the temples, here creating a fascinating little group with one peering over the shoulder of another as if to ask "what are they up to over there?"

After a short nap and some p & q we took a ride in a tuk tuk back into town where we enjoyed a little independent exploring. We've booked dinner here tomorrow night whilst we were passing by - it's Friday so we can join in the special barbecue meal which sounds good fun.

Luang Prabang is a really attractive place and deserves its World Heritage status. We feel privileged to have been able to spend time here.

 

As darkness fell, we could see the lights of the night market at the other end of the street and headed in that direction like moths to a flame. Oh my goodness...so many silks, pieces of embroidery (reverse applique bedcovers a plenty) bags, slippers, paper lampshades, scarves, silver - almost everything was attractive and interesting and there was so little "tourist tat" that we took time to browse down both sides of the path.

What's more, it's on again tomorrow. Better go to an ATM I think.

Learning to drive, Lao style

It's a day in the school holidays and your Mum's gone to the market. What else is there to do but to help Dad drive the boat upstream with a couple of tourists? If you sit quietly and obediently by his side and watch carefully

and help out with some of the hard work when you arrive at the caves

then maybe on the way back, Dad will let you have a hand on the wheel

and when the rain starts and he has to see to the plastic sheeting which protects the cloth seats, he might let you have a go yourself, whilst staying close to make sure you're ok

Finally, if you make a good job of it, he'll leave you to it, all alone...in control.

And those tourists could well give you a tip as well ;-)

Fun on the river

Before we left, a couple of people asked if our trip was likely to be affected by the flooding which beset this area the weekend before last. To be truthful, we had no idea, even when we reached Vietnam and had access to local news and papers.
 
 

Today, a trip upriver to the Pak Ou caves was our first encounter with the aftermath of what looks to have been one of the highest waters in many years. The riverbank bore clear marks of the recent flood and the mud was still there to be cleared from many places including the steps where we boarded our boat. It was very loosely packed and rather slippery - don't ask me how I know (or why I wore very pale grey trousers for the trip...but it does wash out!)

The cave is situated high on the bank of the river, in limestone rocks and is reached by steps from a small landing stage. It's full of buddhas, large and small and is a quite remarkable place.


 

As we returned to our boat down the steps, we could see the high water marks - the highest white line there is the famous 1966 flood, recalled by our guide Ming as a devastating event in her childhood. The two lower marks are both 2008 - not quite as overwhelming but quite enough to make a fair bit of mess. The water has gone down somewhat but still has some way to go.

 

 

 

Back in Luang Prabang we enjoyed a delicious lunch at the Three Elephants restaurant. We rather liked the placemats, too.

 

 

 

All that rain has its benefits however, for when we got to the Kwang Si waterfalls we were privileged to see the most spectacular show imaginable. Mind you, the high water hasn't done much for the viewing platforms.

We drove back through the most glorious Lao countryside - teak forests an rice paddies with water buffalo grazing by the side of the road here and there.

During a short stop at a very muddy Hmong village we observed how wherever there is mud, there is a small boy or two not far away having a great time!

We were soon back at our lovely bolthole - the view from our window was beautiful. Nearly as good as the one through the bottom of a G&T glass shortly afterwards...

From under the mosquito net

There seems something strange about sitting writing a blog entry on a laptop under a mosquito net! I'm not sure that, with efficient air conditioning, the net is strictly necessary but rather than spend tomorrow scratching, I'll enjoy the cosy security here inside.

 

Thanks to Paulene, we have also got some sweet smelling anti-mossie stuff too. We are prepared.

 

We arrived here early evening and have just retired to our room having learned we've been booked on a non-existent flight on Friday. The dilemma was, do we move on a day early or stay an extra day here? For us all, it was no question - stay here a day longer! The bonus for me is that I could book a full day at the Ock Pop Tok centre, rather than the half day I'd planned. Mark and Edward would be happy exploring this delightful place a little longer too. Though we would be sorry to lose a day in Chiang Mai on balance, the new and exciting wins over the wonderful and familiar. But, the whole shebang hangs on the availability of rooms here on Friday night. We sit under our net and wait for news tomorrow.

 

Our day began in Saigon, with a last run round the shops. We had such a fun day yesterday that we felt we needed nothing more than a bit of shopping before heading to the airport. We managed to complete our lists in the dry sunshine and were back at the hotel by 11am, ready to pack our bags and watch as the heavens opened.

 

Hopefully, tomorrow, I'll have time to write about the amazing place we visited yesterday. Here's a bit of a teaser...

Tay Ninh

When we were last here, we heard a bit about the Cao Dai religion, unique to Vietnam (but with a small community in California, too) Too complex to explain here, I'll simply add this link where you can learn all you wanted to know about it. Suffice to say that believers incorporate aspects of several religions and venerated figures include Buddha, Confucius, and Jesus Christ - somehow Victor Hugo fits in there amongst others as well!

So, off we went to Tay Ninh, the Holy See this morning, some two and a half hours away from Saigon by car. Not really sure what we were going to see, the minute we stepped inside the main church we knew that the drive had been worthwhile. We left our shoes outside and appreciated the cool, smooth tiled floor after the heat outside.

 

What greeted us was a riot of colour, somewhere between Michaelangelo and Mary Englebreit. Not only were we warmly welcomed, we were actively encouraged to take photographs and observe the service which was about to commence.

We climbed the stairs to a viewing balcony along with other tourists and watched as groups of followers assembled at different levels of the stepped nave according to their level of achievement towards Nirvana.

One lone gentleman of advancing years had made it the furthest and sat on level five or thereabouts.

Throughout the service, the followers were overshadowed by the all-seeing eye symbol, there in a triangle on every window and on a large earth-like sphere above the altar.

After around half an hour of chanting accompanied by drums and a reedy wind instrument of some kind, the followers got to their feet and processed out of the hall. We did the same and went outside to find a small crisis

Whilst we had been inside, a heavy rainstorm had caused a flood outside and all the shoes had floated away! Many were searching for their flipflops in vain - and what about ours?

Fortunately, Vinh, our guide had foreseen the potential problem and had rushed outside and rescued them. Who knew that he'd be able to recognise our shoes amongst the many? Good man!!